


Love.exe

by myoue



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Convenience store owner Levi, Developing Relationship, Dubious Ethics, Hacker Eren, M/M, Slice of Life, technologically impaired levi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-05 11:35:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 69,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1817122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myoue/pseuds/myoue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Levi wants to do is drink tea, run his goddamn convenience store, and not have to deal with this kid who keeps coming in to leech his wifi bringing down high-end corporations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Run Program

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't take this fic too seriously. i don't even know what i'm talking about half the time, and the other half of the time i'm like "well this sounds cool". i'd also like to point out that this fic is going to conveniently use every hacker trope in the history of modern story telling. thank you for your undeserved patience with me.
> 
> EDIT: [this here art](http://nonkan.tumblr.com/post/88710907363/geychou-convenience-store-owner-levi-hacker) by [nonkan](http://nonkan.tumblr.com) was drawn before i even started writing the fic ahhhhhhh

It had all started when it was pouring rain, rainy enough to soak out your vision and form a miniature version of the Nile River all the way down the streets and around the block.

Despite Levi’s mostly impassive attitude to the idea of changing weather, he very deeply hates the physical repercussions it has on drowning out his potted plants on display and occasionally making him wade through a flooded basement. Water is cold and wet, and rain especially is only nice when he doesn’t have to touch it.

For now he’s sitting contently on a tall wooden stool at the counter, reading trashy tabloid magazines from the shelf, and expecting no customers. There hasn’t been a customer all day because the rain outside makes the trip to his convenience store rather inconvenient, and even though customers tend to take shelter in his store without actually buying anything (the nerve of those people), none of them have actually showed up for the last hour or two. Consequently, Levi is bored out of his skull.

But lo and behold,  _expecting_  no customers may be but  _having_  no customers obviously isn’t so because the chime above the front door gets his attention, and he’s only barely interested enough to look up but not interested enough to cough out a greeting. Not to pass judgement or anything, but this customer seems like the type of customer that comes in just to take shelter.

The wet and scruffy looking figure of a kid looks rather suspicious in a done up black hoodie and equally dark jeans. Levi swears to himself that if he has to deal with another delinquent kid trying to buy cigarettes without proper ID he might just kick the guy out and slam the door in his face despite boasting a 12 AM close up time.

The boy saunters up to the counter with a giant bag and tracking water all over the place. He trudges so messily and awkwardly that water splashes onto the counter and he manages to make Levi jerk back so he doesn’t get wet. How filthy.

The boy stands in front of him, looking so tired and hunched over that Levi briefly wonders if this is going to evolve into a holdup. The giant bag he’s carrying could have guns or knives or other various maiming devices. 

Instead what comes to him is a look of apology and a desperate plea of, “Hey, do you have wifi?”

Levi’s caught off guard because a) he does have wifi, b) he’s the only one that ever uses it so the limit is rather small, but most of all c) he did not expect that gruff boyish of a voice to come out. It’s not far from the first human voice besides his own that he’s heard all day.

“Yes, we do,” Levi answers a little more quickly than he could stop himself.

He’s glad that this didn’t turn into a holdup and this kid actually seems innocent enough, so maybe while he still has his luck he can try to coax them into buying some things from his dying business. It’s only fair if they’re going to be stealing all his bandwidth. It’s almost depressingly sad to think that his lack of good business is turning Levi into a money-grubbing mongrel. From the way his store is going, he’ll soon end up selling everything here for so dirt cheap that he might as well be giving it all away. And that is definitely sad to think about.

“Oh, thank god,” the kid huffs, pulling the messenger bag off his shoulder and unzipping it to take out a heavy-duty laptop. He drags a sleeve along the counter to wipe away at the water that he left himself (Levi rolls his eyes), and carefully places the rough black laptop atop it. “I was running all around town, you know,” the kid tells him, pressing a finger to the power button.

Levi arches a questioning eyebrow and wonders why in the hell the kid just brought out a laptop. He was thinking maybe a phone or even a tablet, but no a goddamn laptop. “There are other places with wifi, you know. Like tea shops where you can actually sit down.”

“They were all closed!”

Levi crosses his arms and the kid taps a finger impatiently on the touchpad waiting for the screen to load up. The kid looks at him briefly under the edges of his hood and grins. Levi feels a chill go up his spine. Damn teenagers.

Running up and down town looking for wifi? Typical. Kids these days can’t survive without their daily dose of internet access. It’s saddening at best and pathetic at worst, in Levi’s own honest opinion. Although then again, it’s not like he can be the judge on what’s saddening or not. He only has wifi here to check the news and see if the weather is going to be a bitch for the day and, well, he already knows the answer to one those.

He’s reaching for the cup of cold tea underneath the table when the kid is asking him again, “So, which one is it?"

They stare expectantly at Levi, who has to sigh miserably because he never thought his life would come to what he’s about to say next.

“It’s  _Silence of the LANs_. Don’t mock my shitty connectivity, by the way,” he tries to say in hopes that it would distract this kid from his stupid wifi name – one that he chose while inebriated and browsing Reddit for longer than appropriate browsing times. So, basically longer than forty seconds.

The distraction doesn’t work, though. “You have a sense of humour, huh?” the kid chuckles and Levi is too embarrassed to say otherwise. “Mine is pretty similar back home. It’s  _LAN of the Free_.”

“Lovely.”

Levi brings the tea cup up to his lips while thinking that this kid is actually much more supremely lame and nerdy than he is, and he does feel at least a little better that he’s not alone in the super lame wifi names club.

“Oh, and what’s the password?” they asks again, and Levi suddenly finds himself in a fit of coughing and mortification.

“Give it here.”

Levi turns the laptop around to type in the password himself because there’s no way in hell he’s saying it out loud. For security measures but also for more embarrassing reasons, like the fact that it’s of the highest calibre of nerd and lame. He really should have thought more about his internet arrangement instead of drinking one too many club sodas mixed with rum.

The laptop is also not like the shiny Macbook kind that he expected. It’s actually thicker and more functional-looking.

“There,” he grumbles, turning the laptop back.

“Thanks!”

The kid begins working away on the computer, probably checking his email or Facebook or something else tedious, with a newly replaced stony expression.

Levi is left to sit there sipping minutely at his tea. It’s cold and it tastes horrible because he made it and there are too many tea leaves in it, but it’s relatively successful in keeping his hands and his mouth occupied for the time being. It’s hardly successful enough though, because a customer in his store that is not currently looking at or trying to pay for something is a problem Levi can’t keep his mouth shut about.

“So,” he brings up in a lightly dressed tone of concern, edging himself over the counter into the kid’s personal bubble, “Are you hungry? We have chocolate bars, bags of chips…”

“For free?” They’re suddenly looking up excitedly, as if this deprived child is some rabid animal that hasn’t eaten for days and has been resorting to the scraps of food from a generously wasteful family.

Levi just sits there incredulously. “ _No_ ,” he says through his teeth. “ _Not_  for free. We’re not a damn charity organization here.”

The look of disappointment that crosses the kid’s face is so drastic; it’s almost as if he was expecting Levi to be this kind of bastard.

“Cheap.”

_Cheap?_  Did Levi just hear cheap? Though he is, he can’t lie.

But they’re a customer and Levi has to restrain himself if he wants to be able to pay next week’s bills.

“Thirsty?” he says instead with a hard-pressed strain in the back of his throat. “We have water, juice…” He takes another look up and down at the hooded kid with disdain. “Monster drink…? I guess.”

The kid looks up at him, stares, probably understands how much Levi is judging him as a hooligan, and then promptly looks back down.

“No thanks. I’ve already caught enough water in my mouth on the way here.”

If that was an attempt at a joke, it was pretty piss poor, because Levi bypasses it completely in favour of saying, “What are you, some kind of dog?”

Although, that doesn’t boil over too well with the kid because he stops all movements of his fingers, glaring up at Levi.

“Who’s the one hounding all over me like a dog?” he snaps back with a hint of a cheeky smirk, and Levi’s patience is starting to run out. “Do you mind not saying things for a while? I’m trying to concentrate.”

_Concentrate on what?_ , Levi wants to ask but he shuts his mouth obediently in favour of not swearing and not being any more unnecessarily rude to a customer, who he may or may not be able to guilt trip later into buying something after all. He’s got a plan.

“Suit yourself.”

The weirdo kid begins to type away furiously (or furiously in Levi’s midlife crisis opinion) and clicks his tongue disapprovingly every now and then while stopping to hover a finger over the Enter key each time he does.

The looks of obvious discomfort are so excessive that Levi’s about to ask what’s wrong and if this incompetent child needs some help connecting to the internet (another possible guilt trip tactic) when the kid interrupts him by taking his hood off.

Suddenly he’s flicking his head back and forth, shaking his hair around like a dog having just finished a bath. Levi is momentarily transfixed, thinking this guy is making even more of a splashing mess all over his counter and merchandise. But when the lion mane of hair settles back down into a wet amalgamation that sticks out at all angles, but somehow all the _right_  angles, Levi feels like he’s been punched right in the chest.

This absolute fucker and all his fuckery needs to stop.

And everything’s wet now, for god’s sake.

It’s also only now that Levi notices those eyes in front of that laptop that glow a deep bright green. There’s a silence that’s been formed between them but Levi sneaks a peek up to look at those eyes every so often, seeing as the kid is more concentrated on the screen and thankfully not at Levi looking like a fidgeting bowl of watery soup.

He’s getting distracted, and remembers he has another plan that he needs to act on.

He reaches over to the rack of potato chips, plucking off a bag of travel-sized, Regular flavoured ones. Because everyone likes Regular, right? He opens it with a loud tear and then starts eating, crunching obviously.

 “Want some?” he offers up, poking the bag forward enticingly and seductively.

Those puppy dog ears perk up as the kid tears his eyes from the screen to stare at the chips, and then slowly but surely reaches a hand over. “Can I?” he says hesitantly and with round quivering eyes.

“That’ll be a dollar fifty.”

The hand is jerked back so quickly that Levi is cursing himself. This is like dealing with a wild forest deer and Levi is stepping on branches all over the place.

“Just buy the bag of chips, you wifi-leeching brat,” he definitely doesn’t shout like an aggressive piranha. A piranha preying on a deer: these are the things that are possible in Levi’s convenience store.

The wifi-stealing child ignores him as his eyes suddenly narrow down and scan the computer screen back and forth, racing around and most definitely rounding in concentration. He buckles down into a serious composure. Was he even blinking at all now? Levi has the incredible urge to crane his neck and look over.

“Just a second,” the kid says distractedly, and Levi falls back.

“One second, my ass. I’m losing money here,” Levi is sulking even though he doesn’t sulk.

“Hold on.” They have an awkward moment of tension before the kid is saying evenly, “I’m not buying a half-eaten bag of chips.”

Levi is sitting there, body stiff, when he hears one last harsh click of the Enter key and then the lid of the laptop closing.

“Done,” the ignorant kid says tiredly with an exhausted sigh.

The kid grins a lazy grin, and if Levi wasn’t absolutely fuming on the inside right now he might actually find him attractive. Although, even while fuming he still finds this trash kid attractive to a rather regretful degree.

Finished packing, the brown-haired teenage letdown now leans an elbow on the counter, relaxing with a chin on his palm and sticking his ass out at a rather flaunting angle because the counter is so low and why even is the counter  _this_  low? Or maybe the kid’s just too tall.

“You’re funny for an old guy,” that shit kid says daringly and Levi really has no idea if he’s doing this on purpose now.

“I’m not old.”

“Anyone over twenty is old to me,” the kid tells him with a light laugh.

Oh god, that laugh is attractive and exactly how many things about this boy is Levi going to find illegally attractive? He then realizes something, and suddenly he’s crying on the inside.

“How old are you?” he asks quickly in a sad attempt to hide his increasing panic.

The kid just looks at him surprised at first and then worryingly deep and seriously afterwards. Levi is perturbed to the point of anxiousness that he has to look away to withhold the blush on his sensitized cheeks. How dare this kid drag on his embarrassment longer than necessary.

But then the eyefucking turns into a light smidgen of a chuckle and then into obnoxious quake of laughter.

“I’m twenty! So stop thinking creepy thoughts.”

However, this only slightly helps to calm Levi’s racing pulse. “So, by your own standards you’re already old yourself?” he says to mask his absolute relief. He also decides to ignore that creep comment for the sake of keeping the peace.

“Yeah. There’re already younger and more brilliant kids in this field than me.”

“Field?” Levi’s questioning again.

“Oh! I’ve said too much.” The kid wears another smile to distract Levi and, by all the angels up in Heaven, it works.

They straighten up, slinging the bag over their shoulder, and Levi can only stare down at the puddles on the counter. He’ll have to clean this mess up later with an extra squirt of lemon juice.

“Thanks again!” the kid says, turning around to leave. “Have a good night, then.”

“Yeah. Bye kid,” Levi says back lamely.

“I’m not a kid!”

Levi can’t suppress a smirk. “Right, you’re old. Got it.”

“And I’m not old!” they throw over their shoulder. “Well, I guess I am. But my name’s Eren, okay?”

“I didn’t ask for your name.”

Eren only shrugs at him, hand pausing on the door handle. “Just in case you need something to call out at night.” He winks.

Levi is horrified.

“See you, Levi!”

And before Levi can remember that he has his name written on a laminated nametag on his uniform, the bell above the front door is chiming again and Eren is pulling on his hood, stepping out into storming weather.

Levi briefly wonders if he should have asked Eren to stay for a little while longer, at least until the rain lightens up. He doesn’t close for another three hours.

And then he’s glad he didn’t because he looks down at the empty counter in front of him and swears to himself internally, out loud, and everything in between.

“ _Goddammit_. He stole my chips.”

-

It’s the next day and it’s clear skies. Right after a storm is one of the worst days, in Levi’s opinion. It’s the time when gross things gets washed up onto the sidewalk, like dead worms and overturned lawns. His potted plants (the ones that were too heavy for him to lug in himself) have created their own private getaway lake, and his basement has pails catching dripping water from the ceiling.

And it would have been better if it weren’t for all the noise.

“Leviii, it’s so hot.”

It’s Eren and he’s here. He’s here and his laptop is open and he’s sitting at the counter on the other side of Levi, having dragged a chair from somewhere (who knows where?). He’d literally appeared out of nowhere when Levi went to return some DVDs to the back storage room. When he came back to the front all of a sudden there the kid was, like some sort of illegitimate child showing up fully grown on Christmas Eve, leaning tiresomely against the counter and already fiddling around on Levi’s internet.

“What are you doing here?” Levi had said.

“Came in through the front door,” Eren had said stupidly back.

“That’s not what I asked,” Levi tried again.

“I like it in here,” is all Eren ended up saying.

Levi had sighed and rubbed his eyes, hoping this was just a very elaborate and interactive illusion that his mind constructed in order to spite him. But alas, no amount of excessive blinking and smacks to the face would smudge away this reality.

“Don’t you have AC or something in here?” Eren whines now, flapping a hand in front of himself. It feels like a rainforest in here.

Levi leans back in his stool at the counter, resting against the shelf of cigarette boxes and lottery cards behind him. “What, air conditioning?”

“That’s what I just said.”

“We don’t have air conditioning.”

“Why not?”

“Too expensive.”

Eren sighs, also leaning back in his chair and tapping away slowly on the keys of his laptop. “You can afford an internet plan but not air conditioning?” he pouts.

 Levi shrugs. “I have the cheapest plan. If you don’t like it, get out.” He’s really not in the mood to be arguing about his life choices from some computer techie kid who’s probably been brought up in some well-adjusted family with enough money to live in excess. The kind of life Levi looked at from afar.

“How cheap?” Eren narrows his eyes at him, and Levi is not going to have it if he has to hear the word cheap one more time.

“Enough for checking email and the news and nothing more,” he says, hoping this’ll all be dropped.

But Eren is practically gaping at him, almost looking ready to stand up from his seat and slap him in the face if it weren’t so damn hot that moving even in the slightest takes effort.

“Show me right now. Your plan,” Eren commands him, turning his laptop around to face Levi. “Go to whatever site it’s hosted on and log in to your account. I need to see this.”

Levi is scoffing. “Why?”

“It’s important!”

“Okay okay…”

He doesn’t know why he’s conceding so easily as he grumbles logging into the site. This is an invasion of privacy, but Levi figures if he doesn’t give it up now then Eren will never leave him alone. Just for once he’d like to not be made fun of.

Looking up account details, he turns the screen around to show Eren.

Of course, Eren is in a frenzy. “Ten gigabytes a month!? Are you crazy?”

“No.”

“That’s… that’s…!”

While Eren is grasping at the hair on his head, Levi turns the laptop back around to log himself out.

“That’s like three hundred megabytes a day!” Eren continues freaking out while Levi just rolls his eyes. “That’s like watching a single 15-minute Youtube video.”

“I’m glad you can do math.” Levi coughs into his hand a bit, pretending like he’s too good for Eren’s computer nerd speak. “And I don’t watch Youtube, so I’m very happy with where I am, thanks.”

“You deserve so much more, Levi.” Eren looks at him woefully, and it’s starting to piss him off.

“What would you know, kid? You don’t even know me.”

Eren manages to laugh and type and scold Levi all at the same time. The fact that Eren can multitask between real life and digital is a bit scary, now that Levi thinks about it. He may have grown up playing old school game consoles and throwing around CD-ROMS, but this new generation  _lives_  technology, takes them apart, and have successfully made PCs and smartphones their bitch before they even knew middle school algebra.

Levi doesn’t even know why Eren cares so much.

“I know we’ve only known each other for a day, not even.” Eren wipes the sweat from his brow because it really is hot in here. “But still, you’re cool for an old guy.”

"I’m not old. I’m twenty-nine."

Eren shrugs at that, not even looking fazed at all at the fact that they’re nine years apart. “Twenty-nine is definitely over twenty,” he says simply.

Levi almost falls off his stool.

And Eren only laughs again.

-

Five more days. Eren comes by every single one of those days.

Levi complains about him stealing all his bandwidth. And Eren complains about the weather.

It’s the following Monday when Levi gets a starch envelop in the mail from his internet provider. At least it’s not heavy or lumpy but he opens it up with vigor because, seriously, what has this kid done now? He’s never had any problems with his internet provider until now. In fact, he could say that the company was even a little too fond with him, sending him annoying spam emails making sure he updates to the latest virus checkers and asking him if he wants to upgrade to bigger and better deals. Thanks, but no thanks. Re: Shut up now please.

So all accusing fingers can only be reasonably pointed at the newest addition to his wifi plan. Levi never really did check what Eren has been doing all this time, nor has he even so much as bothered to ask.

He checks his account on his own laptop, not quite sure if they even show specific history in the activity logs.

But before he can navigate mindlessly to that particular page, he notices with shock on the first click that his account had been somehow upgraded from ‘Basic’ to ‘Ultimate’. His bandwidth now apparently allows up to one terabyte of usage per month which is, if Levi’s googling of byte conversion is correct, a hundred times what he had before, and also costs ten times as much!

He’s gritting his teeth as he then scrolls through the activity logs, which doesn’t list specific websites that were browsed under his name, but does have the bandwidth usage per day. It’s only the middle of June, and Levi sees with a calming breath that the beginning of the month has rather miniscule amounts.

And then all of a sudden last week on Monday, the day Eren first came into his store, the usage jumps to a rather frightening degree.

Levi can’t believe it. His entire month’s plan used up in just one day. Even every day after that, the usages are still pretty high, racking up numbers at least fifty times what Levi usually uses by himself.

He’s going to kill that kid in the most primal of ways.

He opens shop an hour earlier than usual and waits by the counter with an impatient foot and an obsessive jerk of his head towards the window every five to ten seconds. Eren’s bound to come around sometime, and there’s no way in hell Levi’s letting him off the hook this time.

He can’t pay these bills. He can hardly pay to keep the store running already, to buy food to put on the table, and toilet paper and soap, and  _what the ever loving fuck_  has Eren been doing on the computer all this time? Is this normal for these people?

It’s noon when Eren chimes through the front door, laptop bag and all, and with the most disgustingly innocent smile on his face. Levi’s neck is jerking so fast, one would have forgotten he was a simple man who lived a simple life with simple needs.

Eren’s about to lift a hand in a wave until he sees the look on Levi’s face, and his hand slowly comes back down.

“ _What_  in God’s name did you do?” Levi roars immediately from the counter and Eren flinches back, eyes wide. “You little shit. Get your ass over here and tell me exactly what you’ve been doing on that fuckery you call a computer. Watching illegal porn? Downloading illegal porn? You a criminal or something?”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Eren protests, walking over cautiously but looking almost ready to run out just in case Levi decides to punch him in the face over the counter or something. “It’s not that. It’s nothing, really…”

“Nothing, really?” Levi mocks. “Then explain this.”

He thrusts the letter at Eren, but before he can even take a proper look at it Levi starts reciting it in an impatient deadpan drawl.

“ _We noticed your recent activity lately, account has received some drastic changes, suspicious behaviour…_ Eren, what the fuck is this?”

“Damn, they found out…” he’s murmuring. “The firewalls must not have been sufficient enough—”

“What was that?”

Eren looks him dead in the eye, not backing down under his scrutinizing gaze and crossed arms overtop a very authoritative-looking apron. Eren definitely can’t run. If he so much as tried to look towards the doorway, Levi would jump over the counter, grab him by the scruff of the shirt, and kick his ass into next week. Hopefully his internet will be normal by then.

“Have you ever heard of Anonymous?” Eren begins vaguely.

“Yes.”

“I mean the group not the word itself.”

Levi wants to shank this kid. “Then, no.”

Eren sighs. “Have you ever heard of DDoS-ing?”

“No.”

“Have you ever heard of hacktivism?”

“ _No_ , you worthless blade of grass. Layman's terms, shitrag."

Eren coughs awkwardly, and Levi has the urge to remind him that he’s only 29 and the fact that he doesn’t know shit about anything that’s coming out of Eren’s mouth is not a reflection of his age but rather Eren’s own exceptionally nerdtastic lifestyle.

“Well,” Eren finally takes a breath and actually begins to explain something, “I’m someone who engages in unauthorized access to computers and corporations in order to receive, destroy, or change otherwise hidden information, whose end results may or may not be for my own or for the general public’s benefit.”

Levi has never heard a more confusing string of words before. Like Eren _wants_ to piss him off.

“I’m a hacker,” Eren states in a bored tone afterwards, and it’s this that finally makes the nerves in Levi’s brain jump with recognition.

“You’re a what?” He would laugh but he doesn’t have the understanding nor the money to afford to. Especially knowing this kid’s actions have cost him. “You’ve got to be shitting me?”

“It’s true!” Eren insists. “At least, in the most basic definition of the word. You see, there are still debates going on about what exactly a ‘hacker’ constitutes, and if certain people are more along the lines of—”

“Look, I don’t care about your friends and their petty debates,” Levi interrupts him with an exaggerated wave of his hands that's supposed to simulate his current sanity. “You seriously mean to tell me you’re a goddamn hacker?”

“Yes.”

“You hack into things?”

“Networks, yes.”

“You’ve been using my internet to bring down corporations and shit for the past week, and yet you haven’t even bought a single bag of chips from me?”

“I—what?” Eren stops at this, apparently not expecting that particular complaint. “Uhh…”

“You know, I’ve been somehow upgraded from ‘Basic’ to ‘Ultimate’? Eren, I can’t afford to pay this much for this fuckload of internet I’m never going to use!” Levi really is now yelling at him. “And you can’t keep going over my limit!”

“I upgraded you!” Eren tells him quickly, holding his hands up in front of him now that Levi is tearing off his apron in a fit of rage. “I didn’t realize you had such a measly plan on the first day when I… did some stuff, so I upgraded you so you wouldn’t have to pay the overcharges.”

“You what?” Levi is flabbergasted once more. “How could you do that? I’m sure I logged myself out of my account when I was on your computer before.”

“I uhh… I hacked into it.”

Wow.

Levi’s rubbing a hand against his eyes and forehead. “Of  _course_ , you did.”

He can’t even contemplate this anymore. He’s on the edge of throwing something, and it may just end up being some floral-scented candles at the kid’s head. The thick ones, too, the ones that can burn for 60 hours or longer and cost only $1.99.

“That still doesn’t excuse the fact that you now owe me three hundred and whatever dollars for this ‘Ultimate’ bullshit,” Levi tells him calmly and carefully, but mostly it’s him just trying to calm himself down. “Now I don’t care that you have to cut into your lifesavings…”

“Oh, that’s already covered.”

“…I’m sorry?”

Eren pulls out his laptop presumably to show Levi what in the hell he’s talking about now. During the time it takes for the computer to boot up, Levi thinks about how a nice nap would do him some good. He’ll fall asleep and wake up, and not have to think a single thought about going hungry and living out on the streets. But at least he would have downloaded all the movies and played all the games he wanted!

Fuck this.

“Here, look.”

The laptop is turned around to face him on the counter, and Levi doesn’t even feel the need to question how his account is already logged in.

He squints at the screen, which has been navigated through to a page Levi hadn’t checked before, and right below  **My Account**  is the line  **Current Balance: $2,167**.

“Are you for real right now, Eren,” he says unconvinced.

Eren just shrugs. “I prepaid some money into your account,” he says obviously.

“Yes, I know. I can still read.” The longer he looks at that number though, the less angry he feels. “How did you get this kind of money? Don’t tell me this is yours?”

“No,” Eren says simply. “I fabricated the number.”

“You-You fabricated…”

Eren nods, and Levi leans his elbows on the counter so that he can rub methodically at his temples.

“This isn’t legal,” Levi has to clarify.

“I know.”

“None of the things you do are legal, are they?”

“Not particularly, no.”

Eren has a weird look on his face, one that Levi’s not sure if it’s really the cause for Eren’s continuous silence and half-assed explanations. But whatever it is, it’s infectious because Levi just stares right back at those hopeful, sinful eyes, looking intent for Levi not to call the cops on him. It’s hilarious because despite Eren’s artificial detachment and nonchalant words, Levi can see the fidget of his fingers, the twitch of his nose, and the darting of his pupils. It’s subtle but it says  _“Please”_  and Levi can’t help but sigh.

“One question,” Levi puts out after Eren’s mouth starts hardening into a line in worry, “Are you capable?”

“Capable?” Eren’s looking confused now.

“Are you going to get caught?” Levi refines. “Are your fire walls hot enough? Am I going to keep getting these ‘suspicious behaviour’ letters…”

“Are… my firewalls hot enough…”

“Yes. Are you going to get me in trouble—what? What is it?”

Eren already starts laughing in between Levi’s sentences, and he’s going at it so hard he’s doubling over the counter and has to drape himself on the glass. He’s wheezing and hiccupping, and Levi really doesn’t have time for this.

“I swear to god, Eren.”

“No… It’s-It’s just—”

“I don’t even want to know, honestly.”

He waits for Eren to stop vibrating as he just stares down at him on the counter.

“Yes.” Eren finally stops and straightens up, smoothing a hand over his mussed up hair. Levi lets out a breath. “I’ll figure out where I went wrong and fix it by the end of the afternoon. They won’t be able to track us.”

The way Eren says  _us_  makes Levi feel a little less alone in all this, at least.

“Good.”

 Eren gets right to work, tapping and clicking away on the laptop. Levi just sits, stares, and then opts to go brew a pot of tea.

"Do you want some?" he asks later.

"Huh?"

"Tea."

"Oh, sure!"

And Levi figures that while technology may be taking over their lives, this kid right here is definitely going to be the end of him.

 


	2. README.txt

The streets have this really nice washed away feel to them, where the leaves on trees are still dripping with residue and the sun reflects rainbows off the wet road asphalt. Levi appreciates this because it’s like the world cleans itself rather than Levi having to whip out the alcohol and cleaning solvent himself.

These kinds of days are probably one of his favourite days.

The thing is, he doesn’t particularly  _like_ cleaning. He does it, but it’s more to soothe some aching need inside him rather than any real functionality it gives to avoiding bacteria or sickness or even just to give him actual clean furniture that’s nice and spotless to look at. He wouldn’t call it OCD because it only applies to certain things and it’s not like it massively hinders his daily life, but he wouldn’t call it nothing, either. It just is, and he’s never worried too much about it.

“Get your feet off the counter. I just cleaned there, you know,” he calls over his shoulder, crouched down and rubbing furiously at the grime on the cabinets underneath.

The wood refuses to let go of the black  _who-even-knows-what_ , and it’s a wonder how it even got there. To be honest, he doesn’t want to think too much about it considering he’s the only one who’s ever behind the counter and subsequently the only one who could have possibly made that stain.

“I know,” Eren replies boredly. He’s treading on shallow waters.

He’s got his laptop resting comfortably on his lap, leaning back and tipping the chair at a precarious angle, foot tapping against the air to an invisible beat that Levi is 1000% sure going to end up being some techno dubstep bullshit. Eren may have ditched the shady hoodie and jeans in favour of a v-neck t-shirt and cargo shorts, but he’s still well entrenched in the hooligan archetype.

“If you know, then get your feet off the damn counter,” Levi counters back with an even more agitated grit of his teeth and a clench of the cloth in his hand.

“I know,” Eren echoes again in a drone, and it doesn’t even seem like he’s aware of what’s he’s saying anymore.

Levi half-sighs and half wants to stick this kid in the freezer so that he can cryogenically freeze himself and wake up in a time when Levi will be better equipped to deal with such an annoyance.

“If a single speck of dirt falls from your filthy shoes and hits that table, consider your imaginary employee application with me automatically filled out, and you’re going to clean that shit up yourself,” Levi huffs, now trying to rub over the dark crayola-like stain completely at one with the cabinet.

“And you’ll pay me?” Eren inquires. “In minimum wage?”

“In bags of potato chips.”

“…Nah, then.”

Levi couldn’t get this stubborn kid to eat a single Regular-flavoured potato chip even if he were starving and begging. He’d probably just ask Levi to use the wifi so he can order a pizza delivery and pay for it using computer magic and fabricated credit card numbers.

Levi gives up. This stain is definitely not coming out.

He’s really tempted to give Eren the kick and knock his chair forward, and maybe Eren would be released from the coding trance he’s been in for the last hour. Maybe Levi would even end up saving a few companies from being infiltrated in the process. He’s still not quite sure if he’s on Eren’s side in all this or not.

Eren has come here every day, staying all day from varying hours of arrival in the mornings to late afternoons, leaving at dusk and sometimes night time. Only a couple times has he actually stayed all the way to closing, but always ending the day with a  _See you tomorrow, Levi_.

“Do you even have another job?” Levi asks, straightening up and throwing the wash cloth into the pail of soapy water sitting on the floor.

“No,” Eren remarks, looking up finally. “I’m self-employed.”

“Oh, self-employed?” Levi scoffs, “Is that actually code for  _‘I’m twenty-one and I do what I want?_ ’”

The beginnings of a chuckle form in the back of his throat because the notion of not saying  _unemployed_  instead is just so ridiculous. Does self-employed mean he’s actually making money off this hobby of his?

“I’m twenty,” Eren corrects as if that year of difference actually means something to him.

“Close enough. It’s easier to say.”

“Twenty-one is easier to say than twenty?” Eren is looking at him as if Levi’s really lost his marbles.

“Yes,” Levi says knowledgeably despite the obvious contradiction in logic that Eren apparently can’t handle.

 _Because we’d be closer in age_ , he doesn’t say.

“Because twenty-one is when you’re legal in America to drink,” he attempts to explain. “Twenty-one is a win in Blackjack. Twenty-one is when you’re an actual proper adult. Twenty-one is also the number of times you’ve pissed me off today.”

“Oh, is that it? Thought I’d have pissed you off more.” Eren opts to ignore his other meaningless rambles.

Levi opts to ignore that jab.

He carries the pail of dirty water into the back washroom to dump into the sink. One of the things he hates is how slowly he has to pour otherwise the drain will get waterlogged, and it’s happened on more than one occasion when Levi had flooded the bathroom himself. For some reason he’d actually left it for a bit, simply hoping that the amount of water would evaporate the next time he went in there and that didn’t actually work.

Somehow, pouring water trickle by trickle during this downtime usually meant staring at the wall and seeing if he could make a picture out of the squiggly cracks and peeling wallpaper. Other times it meant thinking things like  _how many meals can I afford to have this week?_

However, now all that’s thrashing through his mind and giving him a blistering headache is the fact that he’s hosting a person doing illegal things here in his tiny store that  _used_  to mean no harm to society. Now he’s not so sure he can say the same, but for some reason it doesn’t bother him as much as it probably should.

Eren could be a fugitive, run away from home (does he even have a home?), and committing acts of digital crime that Levi has no hope of understanding other than “it’s bad” and “Eren shouldn’t be doing it but he’s doing it anyway for some reason”. He doesn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle to make a proper picture of what exactly he’s dealing with, but the current corner pieces tell him it’s not looking particularly attractive.

He comes back out to the front, wiping his hands on a clean cloth, and Eren is still in the same place except now he somehow has a blue popsicle in his mouth that he’s licking at.

“Where’d you get that?” Levi asks incredulously, darting his eyes to his freezers to see if there’s anything out of place there, or even on the path from here to there. There isn’t. “Did you just steal that from the freezers?”

“No,” Eren says with an even voice, a little too even. He’s keeping his eyes forward at the screen of his laptop, but still looks like the worst liar Levi’s ever seen.

“You did, you little punk.”

“Fine, I did.”

This is so exasperating. Levi is exasperated.

Not only is he hosting a criminal, but he’s also got the package deal of hosting a kleptomaniac and chronic liar. How does he know if Eren’s stolen anything else behind his back besides internet and his slowly diminishing patience? How does he even know if Eren’s been telling him the truth this whole time? What if this whole hacker thing is just a well-thought-out lie and conveniently coalescences with the problems his internet has been having?

It’s still a wonder why Eren even told him blatantly about being a hacker. Is that the kind of thing you tell to just anyone? For some reason, he also came back here after that casual confession. Levi can’t be the only one with easily obtainable wifi in the area.

This whole thing is getting agonizing to think about, and he’s barely even gotten through the morning.

“If you’re going to take food, at least tell me,” he says, taking his place on the stool across from Eren.

“…Fine.”

“I’m serious.” Levi raises his voice slightly and it succeeds in getting Eren’s attention, at least a little bit. “You can’t just be taking things, okay? I have to keep count and inventory, and I lose money with every item I have less to sell…”

Shit, why does it feel like he’s a parent lecturing a child?

“I get it, sorry,” Eren says, biting into the popsicle and clenching onto the stick in between his teeth while clattering fingers against the keyboard all at the same time. “I’ve just never had to worry about buying things before.”

“Oh, is that it?” He knew this kid came from a well-off background. Still, it’s somewhat surprising Eren feels comfortable sharing this piece of information about his childhood.

“Or rather, I’ve never had to worry about money,” Eren murmurs, backspacing a couple of times and then continuing to type on.

It sounds solemn coming from him, even though it seems like something Levi would give anything to have. His own childhood is vague. He doesn’t remember much other than no parents, no money, and he’d probably have an easier time listing the things he  _did_  own. But at least he’s struggling a bit less now than he was back then, though.

"Lucky you," Levi says with a palm against his cheek.

Dragging the stick out of his lips, Eren flicks it towards the garbage can behind the counter. It misses it, though, hitting the edge and falling to the floor. He just looks at Levi, grinning a stupid grin before shoving his laptop off his legs and taking his feet off the counter to get up.

“Were you trying to show off or something?” Levi is reaching down to pick up the stick and throw it properly into the can himself. He hopes he didn’t grab the end that was in Eren’s mouth.

Eren shrugs. “Maybe. Also, thanks” he says as the stick clatters into the bin, before he’s sitting back down. “I was never good at hand-eye coordination anyway.”

“How did I guess?” Levi muses. “And I was putting my bets on you being one of those crazy athletic types.”

Eren makes an offending noise before laughing. “I’m the nerd type not the jock type.” He points obviously at his laptop before pulling it into a hug and cradling it against his chest. “This is my child.”

Ah, yes, of course. What a football is to a jock is what a laptop is to Eren.

"So, why isn’t it one of those shiny ones? The ones that are as thin as a manila envelope? Thought you’d have to have the latest and greatest gadgets." Levi doesn’t know when he’s become so chatty.

"The fact that you say  _gadgets_  makes you sound old.” Eren chuckles, and Levi is scowling.

"Sorry for using real English words," he snaps. How often must Eren point out his age and his obvious disinclination for all things modern?

"This is a powerful machine, though!" Eren claims, holding up the laptop towards Levi’s face as if the more closely he’s able to see it the more he’d be able to tell. It doesn’t do anything, though. Levi just stares at it blankly. "Just because it’s not shiny like those other flimsy things. One drop and it’s dead. This thing is small but it has a quad-core processor…" Eren begins rambling.

And Levi’s regretting asking, because Eren is going off by himself. Listening to him is like trying to decode a Shakespearean play where the only things Levi can understand are the  _the_ 's and the  _wait, but there’s more!_ 's. Anything else, Levi just has to zone out his hearing and stare at the light in Eren's eyes and the lighting up it brings to his face every time Eren says something especially complicated.

He’s definitely a nerd.

It makes Levi wonder if he's ever been emblazoned with passion like that before. No, of course not.

"So, I’ve been using this guy for three years. Got him when I first started to do this hacking thing seriously," Eren finishes saying, looking down and twiddling with his fingers on top of the closed laptop on his knees.

Finally, some English Levi can actually understand.

"This all started when you were seventeen?" he asks.

"Yep. But I'd been dabbling a bit before that."

Levi is shifting in his seat, feeling strangely incompetent because at that age he wasn't good at anything. He _still_ isn't. Besides surviving, anyhow. "How did you manage to balance that and school?"

"Uhh..." Eren chuckles nervously. "Little bit less of school and a little more of computering?"

 _Computering_ , that's definitely not real. Come on, now.

“You’re not in school now, then?”

“What, like college?” Levi nods and Eren just gives a simple shrug. “Never thought about going.”

It’s at this that makes Levi grimace just slightly. He doesn’t want to shit all over other people’s life choices, but he feels just a little sense of jealousy and a sense of something else because it seems like Eren had the choice between going or not, and he chose not to without even giving it a second thought. It’s a choice that Levi never even had the opportunity to make. He’s not sure if he would actually make the decision to go on to higher education himself, but he would have at least given it a more serious thinking than Eren’s seeming indifference.

“A nerd type who doesn’t want to go to college?” Levi says instead because he doesn’t want to push it. “That’s funny.”

He’s almost afraid that he’s still pressed it a little too much, but Eren just laughs again and says, “Yeah, I guess it is, isn’t it?”

-

Today happens to be one of those days when Eren decides to stay all the way to closing time at midnight.

It’s achingly hot and humid, and for the first time in years, the thought of an air cooling system actually sounds like a really nice idea. Levi thinks the sharing of body heat with Eren in this tiny space is the reason he suddenly feels hotter than before when it had somehow seemed more tolerable.

They’ve talked a lot over this period of time, so much so. In fact, it’s at this point where Levi just can’t help but think about things. Things like knowing that Eren is a hacker, yes, but what does that even mean? What exactly does that constitute?

When he tries to come up with tangible things that Eren actually does on that laptop of his, he draws a complete blank. Where his absolute disinterest in things might make him have a higher than normal threshold for accepting morally ambiguous things, it has a drawback of not asking the important questions in the beginning until it builds up in his head little by little, eventually mutating into a crawling monster of curiosity when he really should be trying to sleep at night.

“What is it, exactly, that you even do?” Levi says once he's done counting cash for that day, setting aside finished tea cups and all forms of anxiety.

To explain it, it feels sort of like the same with how he is with cleaning. He’s not asking to fill a functional purpose of knowing or to be informed. It’s not even so that he can have insurance in case the police show up one day and Levi can use the information to more properly defend himself and/or out Eren if it comes down to it (although, he’s thinking this could be hitting two birds with one stone).

There’s an anxious ache in him that’s telling him he  _should_  care and that he _should_  ask, maybe out of some moral obligation or something else. But whatever it is, it needs to go away. And it’s taken this long because on top of being inherently disinterested, he’s also been an uncanny combination of too polite and too much of a wuss, and also to shift some blame, Eren’s just never bothered to actually mention anything about it himself.

While Levi’s waiting for an answer, Eren just glances up. At first it seems like he’s not even going to answer, but soon he’s leaning close over the top of the laptop, waiting until Levi is unconsciously leaning in forward as well, before he’s answering dumbly,

“Hacking.”

He leans back, and Levi really could not have heard a worse joke at this time. “That’s really funny, Eren. But seriously, just tell me something, anything. Even you said that it can’t be explained that easily.”

Eren narrows his eyes up at him, probably thinking that his own words backfired on him from before, but Levi is not taking no for an answer. If he and his store are going to be used like some sort of wifi whore, spreading their legs for Eren’s wireless connection – wow, he’s not sure where this is going – but anyways, he better have at least an idea of what he’s going to be walking out of here in handcuffs for.

Eren lowers the lid of his laptop, though, which is a good sign that Levi’s got a good amount of his attention now.

“Well,” Eren says, starting off like how he always starts off his half-assed explanations of things, “First of all, I’m not just one of those dumbass hackers who break into networks for fun.”

“Oh, you’re not a dumbass hacker? Guess I can cross that off my mental list of you,” Levi tells him with a roll of his eyes.

  * ~~Dumbass~~  hacker



“Are you going to keep making fun of me?” Eren’s eyes look threatening, and Levi is almost afraid of what the possibilities of that could mean.

“Fine, I’ll stop,” Levi mumbles, feeling slightly miffed because if anything, Eren is probably the one who's been making fun of him this whole time. “So, you’re not one of  _them_. What are you, then?”

Eren just leans back in his chair, hands folded behind his head like some overconfident asshole in a badly acted movie. Add some shades and he could be someone from an '80s high school classroom. Picturing Eren with a pair of Ray-bans is oddly heart-wrenching.

“I’m a hacktivist!” Eren goes on to say proudly, and Levi is thrown from his daydream to remember that's he's not proficient and knowing in all things hacker to know what Eren's talking about.

“What is that?” Levi says in a deadpan.

Eren lets out a heavy breath and, really, all Levi can think is he should have expected this.

“It’s  _hacker_  and  _activist_  combined,” Eren explains, and frankly it doesn’t do much to make Levi any less unimpressed. “ _Hacker_  and  _activist_  making  _hacktivist_.”

“I wonder which snotty nerd came up with that first,” Levi mutters to himself.

Eren ignores him. “It’s like hacking with a good purpose. We promote free speech of the people, human rights, and telling corporations that they can’t push us around.”

“Huh…”

He really does just come right out and say these things; it's like the confession of being a hacker all over again. It almost makes Levi want to question the legitimacy of his words.

“Haven’t you ever thought you were being taken advantage of?” Eren tells him encouragingly, sounding like he wants Levi to feel a sudden revelation of anger for things he previously didn’t give a shit about. “Haven’t you ever thought that you were being oppressed by companies and the government making questionable decisions that affect our lives?”

“Not particularly.”

“Haven’t you ever thought that we need change, that we need to free ourselves from the walls of this society!”

“No.”

“Then you’re not looking hard enough!” Eren practically shouts like he’s the spokesperson of an infomercial, and Levi has to admit he’s taken aback a little bit by Eren’s passion.

He goes on to blather about website defamation, URL redirects, and distributed denial of service, which only manages to keep a miniscule amount of Levi’s interest before he completely dozes off. He’s hoping Eren doesn’t notice that while his eyes are open, his attention has completely flown away.

Though this sounds a lot more humanistic than Levi originally thought, at least. It doesn’t sound like Eren has completely bad intentions like the computer hacker criminals that Levi’s only heard negative things about.

Who could blame him for thinking this way, though?

This revolution or whatever it is that Eren’s going on about like some kind of digital Robin Hood doesn’t sound like a very well known thing throughout the public. It’s more like an underground internet subculture that not many people in the real world think can actually make a substantial difference, and if Eren and his hackist friends do anything too drastic like cause bankruptcies or death, they’ll be automatically considered a bunch of terrorists. It’s honestly hard for Levi not to put himself into this category of skepticism.

“Well, that’s quite noble of you,” Levi juts in during one of Eren’s pauses, trying to stay casual even though his tone probably already gives him away to how little he understood any of this.  He runs a hand through the shaggy hairs of his undercut. “I’ll be rooting for you from the sidelines, then.”

It’s just a bit questionable why Eren would choose this specific way to try to fix things in society. No matter how noble it is, it’s  _illegal_. But he supposes Eren already knows this. Perhaps he even embraces it.

“You don’t feel at least a little excited about being part of something like this?” Eren sounds disappointed somehow, looking at Levi in that way that he does from underneath his lashes because he knows he ended up saying too much.

“Am I a part of this?” Levi scratches at the back of his head, wishing painfully that this itch would just go away.

“All of this is possible because of your internet,” Eren informs him like he forgot.

And, well, that’s always great to be reminded of.

“I just fail to see how I get anything out of this,” Levi says truthfully, and it sounds selfish when Eren’s been going on and on about world peace and the good of the people, or at least some obscure variation of that.

But Eren just looks at him.

“Hm.”

And then he opens his laptop again, typing away like madman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I REALIZED I GOT THE BYTE CONVERSIONS IN THE LAST CHAPTER ALL WRONG. LIKE ALL OF THEM  
> I'M REALLY BAD AT MATH, OKAY. SORRY


	3. Configuration

Levi is playing with the edges of the curling up plastic as the heat seeps into it from the package of instant noodles that he’s currently letting set. The chopsticks sit on top of it.

“My Words Per Minute is actually pretty bad,” Eren says with a sheepish expression, having finished explaining to Levi what WPM was, and it ended up being literally what it sounded like.

“Oh?” Levi’s raising a questioning eyebrow even though he can’t say shit about his own WPM. “You’re a self-proclaimed hacker, though.”

“Self-proclaimed!” Eren retorts back in mock offense. “I  _am_ a hacker!”

Levi just rolls his eyes up and down at the ceiling, the ceiling that’s dirty and peeling and has water stains all over it.

Deeming three minutes to be over, he picks up the chopsticks and peels back the plastic lid to stir around his cheap makeshift lunch.

“With the way your fingers smash away at the keys, I’d thought you’d infiltrated Fort Knox or Area 51 by the time you finished listening to a single sentence I’d said,” he states. It would at least explain why Eren always completely and dutifully ignored him sometimes.

He starts slurping at his noodles.

“Of course  _you_  would think of those places.” Levi looks up and sees Eren giving him that vacant expression that Levi knows has got something to do with his age and how high a number it is.

“ _Me_?” he garbles through his food.

But Levi doesn’t even want to deem that a worthy enough response to reply properly to.

“What flavour is that, by the way?” Eren glances at his noodles and gives it a tentative look.

“Beef.”

This doesn’t taste like beef at all, though. It tastes like whatever manufactured “beef-like” poison this is trying to mask in place of actual beef flavour. But Levi can’t afford real beef so this is all he’s got, and whether or not he’s legitimately happy about it, he’s got to suck it up. Literally.

“I used to eat that stuff,” Eren tells him, looking mildly disgusted like he’s got a long history with instant noodles. “Can I try some? For old time’s sake?”

“That’ll be ninety cents.”

Eren has his mouth open in a silent and offended gasp again. “You really are cheap!”

“Who’s the cheap one?” Levi murmurs back, swallowing down bland-tasting noodles. “It’s  _ninety cents_.”

“I just wanted to try a bite of yours…”

“Forty cents, then.”

“Stingy!” Eren exclaims again, and Levi is seriously contemplating throwing the remains of the soup onto Eren’s laptop. Let’s see how that sturdy piece of shit takes a direct hit of liquid. “You would be a good bargainer,” Eren says thoughtfully.

Levi scrunches his eyebrows together accusingly. “You can’t afford forty cents, though?”

“I don’t have any money!” Eren insists with all the disbelieving innocence of a preteen having already spent their weekly allowance.

Levi grimaces, deeming this opportunity for making money a lost cause. Eren is a lost cause. How does a 20-year-old walk around with no money? Are they still living in the medieval times when you meander through the streets with only the clothes on your back and a knife in your back pocket? Except Eren’s weapon of choice seems to be a high-functioning computer machine with the power to take down an entire industry with a few quick clicks.

“What was that about your shitty words per minute?” Levi shifts back to the topic at hand before Eren can place any more accusations on  _him_  somehow being the one stingy on money.

“Yeah, I can type fast!” Eren sounds excited again, apparently having an incredibly one-track mind, and sitting up straighter in his chair like he’s seriously ready to start arguing.

Except he hesitates, and Levi is just waiting for the glorious back story that’s going to go along with this. Also, he doesn’t want to talk. He just wants to finish his goddamn noodles.

Eren looks away in something that looks like shame, forming a pout on his lips before he’s about to confess. “I just tend to make tons of mistakes so I have to backspace a lot and that makes my WPM score go down…”

He says this like he’s admitting a guilty sin and deserves to go straight to computer crime jail without a trial.

“The average for people like me…” he continues ( _people like him,_ Levi scoffs between bites), “is about a hundred words per minute and one or two mistakes. It’s really bad to make mistakes because that means your program won’t work, and it’s inefficient to keep going back to fix them. But yeah, well, I usually clock in around sixty words per minute and end up having like sixteen mistakes or more…”

Eren ducks his head down as if to dodge any flying verbal harassment Levi might throw at him, but nothing comes. Levi doesn’t say anything, doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t even know if he should or shouldn’t be laughing, but he can’t hold back a spluttering chuckle that spills from his lips.

“Don’t laugh!” Eren cries, waving his hands out in front him. “Everyone makes mistakes! I never claimed to be perfect.”

"I haven’t even said anything yet."

Still, Levi continues looking at him in silent judgement because the more he does the more flustered Eren gets, and it feels insanely satisfying every time Eren covers his face and acts like he cares too much about what Levi thinks of him.

“I’m ashamed!” Eren admits. Levi smirks despite it all.

For such an elite computer expert as Eren – fingers flying gracefully fast over the keys, eyes concentrated and serious like he takes care of every word that he types like they’re his children – Levi never imagined he could have such a lame flaw.

“Why don’t you just slow down a little?” he suggests. He can’t believe he’s actually advising Eren on what to do when it comes to computers. Taking any advice at all from him is probably a step in the wrong direction.

“I can’t! It slows me down!” Eren looks exasperated, like he’s been struggling with this issue since the birth of the computing machine.

“Isn’t that the point?” Levi deadpans.

“But if I think harder on what I’m typing at the moment, I forget what I’m supposed to be typing afterwards!” He looks ready to fall into a self-induced Great Depression.

 _Goddamn_. So many problems Levi never thought he would ever have to give a sliver of thought to. Why does Eren have to make everything so much more complicated than it needs to be?

He tips the noodle container into his mouth to start drinking at the soup.

“So, wait,” Levi says as they both settle down after a bit, “Are you saying that you’re just  _that_  excited about writing code that your brain moves faster than your fingers can keep up?”

It’s the only thing he can think of and he may not even be right, but he figures he’ll give Eren the benefit of the doubt that he’s not just a clumsy fuckup. Maybe it’ll stop the kid from freaking the hell out over nothing.

In fact, Eren starts looking quizzical, as if this is the first time he ever thought of it like that. “Yeah, I guess so,” he considers slowly.

Levi only has a vague idea of how ‘efficient’ Eren is already, but the idea that his mind is a flurry of constant mathematical expressions accompanied by squiggly brackets and semi-colons is just a little scary to think about. It’s still only a theory of course. Maybe Eren’s mind is so focused on all this complex shit that he can’t even take a step back and evaluate for the simplest solution.

At least Eren looks happier now, though, face reddening and eyes softening a little. Or maybe he’s starting to look a bit more smug. But either way, Levi feels an unnecessarily high amount of feel-good just because Eren looks like the previously unsolvable problems were miraculously solved, or at least sufficiently explained, and it was all thanks to Levi.

Levi’s definitely not feeling smug himself.

But before they can get anywhere else with it, a customer walks in and Eren immediately quiets down.

“Welcome,” Levi calls out without thinking, and then starts to feel the word foreign on his tongue.

It feels weird because he hasn’t outright greeted a customer in a while, and it’s not just for lack of opportunity to do so. (He has actual customers, okay. Sometimes.) He just feels legitimately more talkative now, for some reason.

The customer takes their time browsing the aisles before they come up to the front, putting only a carton of milk on the counter, and side eyeing Eren in the chair with the laptop on his knee.

“Got a kid in here now, Levi?” the man says amusedly as Levi rings him up. He already knows this guy’s the type of annoying customer who brings up random conversation, addressing the name Levi’s got on his nametag even though he doesn’t know or recognize the guy. Frankly, he just wants to get this over with, even though he works in customer service. “He your nephew or something?” they ask.

“No. Just a kid,” he answers curtly, putting the finished cup of noodles under the counter. “He comes and goes.”

“Ah, interesting.”

Levi doesn’t know if that’s meant to be towards himself for being interesting in letting a kid hang out in here, or Eren for being interesting in coming here every day in the first place.

But Eren doesn’t move, and the man turns to him before Levi can hand him his change.

“Young guy like you shouldn’t be in here on such a beautiful day.” He smiles. Levi feels his face scrunch up.

Eren doesn’t even spare him a glance, looking like he’s typing even faster now. “Whatever,” he mumbles, possibly managing even a subtle knitting together of his eyebrows.

The man just straightens up though, not looking very affected but giving Levi a menial shrug as if saying  _What can you do? Kids._  that Levi won’t relate to at all.

Taking his change and his milk, he walks out while giving an acknowledging goodbye nod to Levi. He returns one back.

“Not very good with small talk, are you?” he tells Eren, feeling like wanting to ruffle his feathers a bit. Then again, that’s something he always feels the need to do lately.

“Not really,” Eren admits but sounding like he’s not regretful of it at all. He’s already looking more relaxed now that it’s just the two of them again. “I’m not very good at making friends.”

The way he says that somehow feels endearing, and Levi’s not quite sure why his chest flutters at this realization that Eren is comfortable just around him.

“You don’t have to make friends with the guy,” he says. Lord knows he doesn’t make much of an effort to do it himself. “Just say something nice and they’ll go away.”

“Only if they’re nice to me first.” Eren scowls, and it’s funny that Eren determined the man’s simple questions to be ‘not very nice’.

“You and me both, kid.” Levi snorts through his nose and Eren nods. “You and me, both.”

There’s a mutual agreement of silence at this, almost like establishing this simple fact between them gives a nice moment of shared anti-social comfort. Although, it’s a bit weird to be sharing in something anti-social.

Levi takes a drink at his cooling tea. The reason still escapes him as to why he always ends up leaving his tea until it’s too cold to enjoy.

“Didn’t even know you got actual customers,” Eren says after a bit, eyes turning sparkly and lips turning cheeky. “Thought maybe I was special or something.”

And Levi almost spits his tea out.

“ _Shut up_.”

-

“Hey, Levi?” Eren calls out later on.

He looks up and Eren’s just staring at him.

Sometimes, the kid has this really annoying habit where he calls Levi’s name even though they’re right in front of each other. They’ve been sitting across from each other for who knows how long, talking normally for who knows how much longer, and Eren still can’t be bothered to say what he wants to say right off the bat without Levi giving a stupid acknowledging reply first.

Sometimes, Levi’s tempted to just say nothing, to see what Eren would do, to see if he’ll keep staring at Levi like a lost and tail-wagging puppy, but the look Eren insists on keeping eventually wears down his resistance and in the end he really does want to know what Eren’s going to say.

It’s tragic.

Time-consuming. And annoying.

“What.”

“Do you ever go out?” Eren asks him, tilting his head slightly and falling his bangs in that stupid messy way. “Or do you just work here all day, every day?”

Levi’s also tempted to lie here, maybe just to spite Eren for being so…  _like that_. But, really, what good would that do when Eren already knows he’s a social and physical recluse? “No, I never go out,” he says.

“No? Not even a day off on Christmas?” Eren doesn’t look surprised, but he does look a weird shade of disappointed. And Levi’s not sure if it’s because Eren is actually concerned for his health of being a workaholic despite mostly sitting around and doing nothing the majority of the time in the store, or if it’s for some other stupid reason that could involve the words  _going out_  or  _date_.

“Yes, okay. I take a day off on Christmas.” He huffs out a deep breath.

“Nothing else?” Eren presses.

“Maybe New Years.”

“Seriously? That’s it?”

“National Donut Day.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“April Fools.”

Eren is a spluttering mess by now. “Are you saying that because it’s April Fools or because you take a day off on Aprils Fools!?”

He’s staring at Levi incredibly intensely, hands slammed down on the counter in fury, and Levi can’t help but lean up and flick Eren right in the forehead for his drama queen act.

“It’s not even April, you delusional kid,” he chastises disapprovingly.

It feels incredibly satisfying to watch Eren rub dejectedly at his forehead and jutting out his upper lip in a cute pout. If only Levi had a phone; he might just take a picture so it would last longer. Then again, having pictures of just-barely teenage boys on his phone would be a little questionable.

“Is there a reason you’re asking?” Levi scoffs, trying to get right to the point. If only their conversations didn’t always dive down the most random of paths, like Donut Day. He really still could use that Boston Cream donut break, though.

“Yeah, of course,” Eren says. “Do you want to go out sometime?”

Levi stops at that particular conjunction of words.

Oh, damn.

He really didn’t expect this. He considered it (as no more than a passing thought) but of all things to say to a 29-year-old store owner who has no days off and no friends and hardly even a likeable personality to speak of, he has to admit that the odds of someone wanting to spend extra time with him are not much in his favour.

And Eren said it so so casually, too. It tears at his brain what it could really mean. If he’s just thinking too much.

“To do what?” he says, trying not to sound like this is the first time in years since he’s been asked out and therefore has no frame of reference for how to go about this. Romantically? Platonically? He doesn’t even know what to define as what.

Eren just shrugs unhelpfully. “Movie? Aquarium? Dinner? You can pick. I don’t mind.”

Levi’s mind is spinning with the options.

“Uh, what’s the cheapest one?” He’s going to ignore the fact that he already kind of indirectly agreed to this whole thing by saying that.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Eren says. “I’ll pay for it.”

He’ll… he’ll pay for it? Eren will pay for him.

Is this a date?

This might just actually be a date.

“Uhhh…”

Levi’s not going to lie, the fact that he’s stalling for this long, the gears in his brain turning at an astonishingly slow rate, is starting to make this situation just a little bit awkward.

It’s not his fault – well, it is – but right now he’s just a crazy mixture of surprised, confused, but more confused than anything. But then again, a lot of surprised as well. Damn it, okay, a hell of a lot of both. He’s not sure what the right answer is, if there even is one. He considers listening to logical thoughts of  _Do I even want to go?_ but he has legitimately no clue what he wants. And somehow, Eren’s managed to wait this long without looking even an ounce of uncomfortable.

The thing is if Levi agrees, would they even be agreeing to the same things? What does Eren even think this is?

“I have to work,” Levi ends up blurting before he can come to a proper conclusion in his head.

And it’s at this that the hopeful look on Eren’s face crashes down into a saddened abyss of sea monsters and corpses of dead fish.

“Yeah, I have to work,” Levi repeats for some reason, as if Eren didn’t hear it the first time. He doesn’t know what he’s saying but he’s saying it, and he feels his chest clench a bit because of it.

“Oh.” Eren looks away.

“I work every day and…” Levi trails off like he’s saying some horrid excuse, “and all the way until midnight, so…”

“I understand.”

“I have customers and business that would be cut off if I were to go canoodling off with you.”

“I totally get it. Wait, canoodling?”

“It’s not like I don’t want to go, so don’t think…”

“No, really. I get it!” Eren raises his voice over Levi and it silences him. Why does it sound like Levi’s trying so hard to convince himself more than anything? Of something that Eren’s already internalized and accepted when he can’t even bring himself to commit to his own words.

He settles down into his seat and Eren spreads a small resilient smile at him.

“Another time, then? When you have some time off?” Eren suggests, sounding more calm about this than Levi feels is completely necessary.

“Yeah.”

But for some reason, he suddenly feels sort of down and a tinge of something along the lines of regret, and he has no idea why.

-

Eren doesn’t stay late. He practically runs out the door the second the sun touches the horizon and leaves Levi with a startled expression and just a plain _See you later._ Once the front door is slammed shut and the bell finishes its obsessive ringing, the store suddenly turns quiet. Quieter than their previous state of mutual silence after that… thing, anyhow.

It’s been a while since Eren decided to leave early, which gives Levi a weird sense of emptiness now that he has to face the shop until midnight alone for the first time in an abhorrently short amount of time even though it feels like longer. There’s enough time to boil another pot of hot water and bring a cup of tea to the front, to sip at it and realize that it’s actually far too hot in here to be drinking hot tea. He’d never noticed this when he was drinking it cold, or cooling, during Eren’s excessive chatter and now his tongue is burnt.

Levi has to talk with a partial lisp as he’s dealing with two 7-year-olds who spill a bunch of ice cream bars all over his counter, and the father telling him that he’s sorry for the trouble but they’re not actually buying any of it. Levi is huffing to himself as they leave, thinking it’s a good thing Eren’s not here or he’d probably swipe one of the ice cream bars before Levi has the chance to dump them all back in the freezer. He ends up putting them back slowly and tiredly.

He closes up shop at midnight and returns overturned merchandise back where they belong – bags of chips that are somehow not in the chips aisle, returned DVDs back to the DVD rack.

He’s wiping everything down and about to head back up to his room when he hears an ominous banging at the front door and it stuns him into silence and immobility, as if he’s the one who has to trek quietly around his own property.

If it’s a customer, he’s already closed. If it’s a burglar, they wouldn’t be knocking. If it’s one of his neighbours asking for something, well he’s too dead tired to be able to deal with them now. He hasn’t even eaten dinner yet, but heading straight to bed without a second thought sounds like a good idea right now.

It’s only when he’s hearing a voice that half-way jumps him right out of his skin that he stops again.

“Hey, Levi! It’s me! Can you hear me?”

Holy fuck, it’s that kid.

Levi is already partially up the stairs to the second floor, but he jumps back down and practically sprints over to the door, unlocking the latch and pulling it open before his mind can even digest what just happened.

It’s Eren, looking stupidly tired and out of breath. His hair is mussed a little, his chest heaving, and Levi is speechless for words.

“Hey,” Eren says, grinning.

“Hi…” Levi returns slowly and unsurely. “We’re closed.”

Eren’s eyes widen in mirth, starting to laugh. “I know! I brought this.” He holds his hands up and Levi looks to see two plastic bags stuffed to the brim and hanging from Eren’s fingertips. “Have you eaten dinner yet?” he asks.

How did he know? What the hell are in the bags?

“No,” Levi says flatly.

“Good. I brought food.”

Eren turns from hopeful to dashingly happy in two seconds flat, shifting his shoulders up and down, indicating to Levi that he’s carrying heavy things and to let him in.

Levi badly wants to ask him what the hell he’s doing here, why the flying hell he bought and brought takeout over when Levi specifically rejected him on the date thing, but most of all he wants really badly to reach up and smooth the haywire strands of Eren’s hair because he doesn’t know if Eren jogged here or flew here, but he looks like a hot, sweaty, attractive mess.

He says none of that, though.

“Come on in, then.” Levi sighs.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just realized this incorporates both my frugal and computer-obsessive tendencies in one frightful story


	4. Hardware

It’s not every day that Levi’s bringing a stranger up the stairs to his room. But then again, Eren’s not exactly a stranger now. Levi’s not really sure what exactly Eren is. Is he even a human or is he just some really advanced artificial intelligence come from the future to screw with him? Maybe all this hacker nonsense is starting to get to him.

“Watch your step. The stairs are steep,” he tells Eren as he looks back and watches the kid trudge up the steps slowly and cautiously with the most concentrated wide-eyed fish look he’s ever seen. “Do you want me to take a bag?” He reaches out a lazy hand.

“I’m not gonna fall and die or anything! I have stamina,” Eren calls back and keeps a protective grip on both of the bags. “I may not be a jock, but I can probably last longer than you.”

Last longer in what, exactly.

“I don’t want to know,” Levi mumbles to himself, walking up the rest of the way and turning on the light at the top. He looks at his room and then back at the train wreck of a child currently chugging his way up the stairs and then sighs for the fiftieth time today, the hundredth time this week, and the trillionth time since Eren stepped through his door for the first time.

Fuck, he’s bringing Eren to his room for the first time.

He only now has the thought that they could have just stayed and eaten downstairs on the front counter or something. Literally anywhere else would be better than here; they could even eat on the floor. Okay, maybe not the floor. He hasn’t cleaned the floor since the time that one customer dropped a jug of orange juice all over the tiles in front of the fridges. But, anyhow, it’s too late for turning back now, and Levi would be kicking himself for it if his legs hadn’t suddenly started to feel so heavy and cemented.

“Just put it there,” he says once Eren gets up and points him towards the dining table. “But take your shoes off first.”

“Yes yes…”

Levi shuffles forward, hoping Eren doesn’t comment on the dinginess of his room.

“You didn’t bring drinks, did you?” Levi asks, already walking to the kitchen to get them something that, frankly, Levi needs personally to cool himself down with. From various happening things.

“What, like alcohol?” Eren’s reply from the hallway is distant and entirely too innocent.

“Drinks don’t only have to mean alcohol.” Levi’s shaking his head even though Eren can’t see him behind the door of the fridge. Why does he have the feeling that Eren would have the alcohol tolerance of a toddler?

“Whatever.” Levi can already hear Eren bristle as the containers are shaken out of the plastic bags.

He ends up pouring them two cups of water instead of bringing out something stronger because getting drunk on their first night in Levi’s room together would probably not be a good idea. Not to say that things would happen (because things of  _that_ nature should definitely not happen), but he doesn’t want to up what seems like already scarily decent chances. Eren came here alone, for god’s sake. In the middle of the night. To Levi’s room. Shouldn’t that ring some bells?

He walks back to the table and upon glancing at what Eren’s scattered all over it, promptly makes Levi let out a “Holy shit.”

There’s takeout containers of all kinds from plastic to styrofoam to even those cliché Chinese paper boxes. In the opened paper ones, Levi can see food ranging from sautéed beef to vegetables, chicken and rice, and lobster, and in the styrofoam there’s things like fried chicken, tacos, mashed potatoes, and some type of pasta in a complex tomato sauce.

Levi suddenly feels very plain holding two simple glasses of cold water.

“Where did you get all this?” he demands even though the viciousness in his tone is entirely drowned out by the overwhelming amount of saliva starting to gather on the insides of his lips. He can’t help but swallow and he can practically taste the food already. The smells clash but they’re all so damn good.

Eren just looks at him unsurely like he’s done a wrong and he’s not sure if Levi would approve of being treated like a king at a feast. “I didn’t know what kind of food you liked, so I just got a bunch.”

He still has that habit of not properly answering Levi’s questions.

“You fucking…” Levi’s momentarily disoriented by the smells before he gets his bearings together and tries not to look directly at the food. “You bought all this? All of it?”

“Yeah.”

Levi’s not sure where to even put the glasses of water now. There’s not really any space on the table seeing as it’s being taken up by the mess of different food from all over the world. Or at least from all over the neighbourhood restaurants.

“And we’re going to eat all of this?” Levi states mechanically like he’s not believing. “Right now?”

“Probably not all now,” Eren says sensibly but its sounds more like mockingly. He rests his laptop messenger bag against the leg of the chair he sits in. “I hope your fridge is big enough to hold all the leftovers. But if not, that’s okay.”

Levi’s fridge is definitely not big enough to hold all this. Even if they eat as much as half of it. Which they surely won’t.

“Well, don’t just stand there! Sit down and eat!” Eren says, standing up to take the glasses of water from Levi and push him into a chair. He sets the glasses into a tiny corner of space on the table.

“Hold on. I’ll get us some bowls,” Levi says, hurriedly getting up again so he can get back to the table as soon as possible.

“You can just eat right out of the containers. If you don’t mind sharing with me, that is.” Eren doesn’t look fazed at all at the idea of indirectly swapping saliva with a kind-of-sort-of stranger.

“Gross,” is all Levi replies from the kitchen and starts opening cupboards.

Eren laughs it off, though, as Levi comes back and hands him a bowl.

“Thanks.”

He doesn’t move yet, simply watching Levi with the empty bowl still in his hand. Levi only stares back and they have a strange sort of silence where neither of them are sure if they should break it first by doing anything. Almost as if this whole thing will disappear if they so much as touch something, the spell broken, the dream ending. And it seems so silly to be thinking this about food. It’s just fucking food.

“Well!” Eren pipes up, startling Levi. “Eat!” he commands.

And to Levi’s brain, it’s translated to something more along the lines of  _you can eat_.

Levi doesn’t hesitate anymore. If this is real, he’ll find out firsthand as he takes a plastic fork from one of the takeout bags and stabs it into a small piece of lobster to plop into his mouth, realizing he has to pick it out of its shell with his teeth before he’s able to eat it.

Shit, it’s fucking good. He chews it thoroughly, and once he swallows it he feels like he’s gained a whole new soul.

“It’s good,” Levi says because even though he was expecting it to be, he’s still surprised at just  _how_  good it ended up being. “Goddamn.”

“Right!” Eren enthuses. “Don’t just stop there. It’s all good.”

But Levi picks up another piece of lobster just in case that first piece was a fluke and was somehow unnaturally good. But nope, this one is good too. They all must be good.

“You like lobster?” Eren notes curiously and with a hint of amusement in his voice as Levi starts to take samples from a bunch of different containers, unable to resist the temptation anymore.

“I like things that I’ll only be able to experience once in my lifetime,” Levi says before shovelling a piece of chicken or beef or both into his mouth. He has no idea what flavour or sauce any of this is, but it tastes like heaven and he wishes there were more than one adjective to describe as heaven.

Eren starts to laugh, though. “Lobster isn’t once in a lifetime!”

“It is for me,” Levi murmurs.

Eren starts to eat now too, and Levi can’t help but look up and catch that look of happy contentment on Eren’s face as he pokes his fork through a piece of fried chicken.

 “It  _was_ once in a lifetime,” Eren corrects, speaking through bites of food and Levi makes a disgusted face at his lack of sanitary conduct.

“Don’t talk when you’re spitting food everywhere.”

Of course, Eren ignores him.

“I’ll make sure…” he swallows thickly, “…it’ll stay as  _was_  for you!”

“What are you even talking about?” Levi feels something between confused in the most innocent sense and downright embarrassed if Eren means what he thinks he means.

“Nothing. Eat all the lobster. I don’t want any of it.” Eren sounds innocent but he fucking isn’t.

Levi narrows his eyes down at Eren who’s now focused on properly getting all the chicken off the bone, and Levi hopes he doesn’t discard that bone somewhere nasty like back in the food container or anywhere else besides his own bowl. The things that Eren says and does are as unpredictable as the rapid currents of the Amazon River, and Levi regrets not getting a third bowl to hold all of their scraps.

“All of this must have cost a lot,” Levi suddenly realizes, and he probably should have mentioned this earlier before he started stuffing his face with everything.

“I guess,” Eren says vaguely like this is the first time he’s even given it any concrete thought. “Maybe over a hundred.” Eren lifts his hand to push it through the unruly strands of his hair.

“A hundred!” Levi stops eating, but only briefly because it’s too good to stop completely.

Eren shrugs. “Maybe a hundred and ten. Maybe more. I dunno.”

A hundred dollars on a single meal for two! Well, technically not a single meal. There’s definitely going to be leftovers tomorrow. And the day after, and the day after. But still. Does Eren know what a typical meal costs for Levi? He fucking should because Levi mentioned it being  _ninety cents_  just that afternoon. How many times can ninety cents fit in a hundred dollars?

“Why would you spend that much just for the two of us?” Levi lets out a groan, and Eren’s doing that thing again where he looks like he’s only half listening, even though he has no intense computer hacking to concentrate on as an excuse. “And what do you mean  _maybe_?” Eren says ‘maybe’ way too much.

Eren tears off a piece of chicken with his teeth and leans back in his chair. “Maybe I wanted to do it because I could.”

Levi feels conflicted between banging his head against the wall and shoving more food into his body.

Because he could? Yeah, and Levi  _could_  spend the rest of his savings on every flavour of M&M’s, including the nonsensical peanut-filled ones, but that would do no good to anyone. Save for the M&M company and his own increased rate of acquiring diabetes and dying an early death.

“Do you want me to pay you back?” Levi says earnestly.

“No,” Eren says flatly.

“Because I can.”

“ _No._ ”

“And I will.”

Eren actually folds his arms obstinately. “This is a gift. Accept the gift.”

At least… it makes up for all the times Eren never bought anything from his store. Even though none of that would measure up to this extravagant degree. Somehow, it’s hard to believe Eren was just biding his time, waiting like a panther to strike Levi at his weak spot, to show off just how much wealth he has.

“Please tell me, Eren,” Levi starts, rubbing exhaustedly at his bangs and eating another piece of broccoli that tastes unfathomably meaty for being a vegetable. He swallows it. “Did you really pay for all this?”

“Don’t ask me if it has to do with my hacking,” Eren cuts him off.

“That’s not what I asked.”

“It’s what you were implying.”

“…Perhaps,” Levi says scathingly. “So, does it?”

“Yes.”

He places a frustrated hand to his forehead, still chewing through the food. The food is so good. It’s seasoned to a perfect amount, or however perfect an overabundance of salt can be. But still, it’s good. It’s too good.

Levi would definitely be a lot better off if he were to just live his life in ignorance instead of having to deal with this guilt of enjoying the benefits of fabricated money. He wants to be angrier, but the pasta is in an obscure shape that he’s never even seen before, something probably from the rural outskirts of Italy itself. And Levi wants to be able to throw all the food to the floor and watch Eren get down on his hands and knees to clean it all up, but then again the food and especially that god fucking lobster must not be wasted.

He ends up sighing all too deeply. “How do you do it?”

“Lots of credit cards and hacking through ATMs,” Eren says flippantly.

Interesting – rather impressive, actually – but that’s not exactly what Levi was trying to get at. “No, I mean  _how do you do it?_ ”

Eren stops eating, looking up from his mountain of food piled high in his bowl, and boring eyes right into the crevices of Levi’s pure and innocent soul.

“Determination and an unlatched moral conscience,” Eren simply answers.

And Levi still has no idea of the things Eren says.

-

The fact that they’re done eating is signalled only by Eren rubbing his stomach in leisurely circles and Levi leaning back tiredly in his chair, rather than the fact that there’s still more than half of the food sitting on the table. There’s just so much food. It hurts to look at.

“I can’t believe I’m going to have leftovers for the next two weeks,” Levi sighs, taking a deep breath in and out so he can digest food faster.

“I can’t believe you finished the lobster.” Eren looks like a stuffed turkey.

“Shut up,” Levi chides. “It was good. Though I guess you wouldn’t know. You didn’t have a single piece.”

He wants to move to put all this shit in the fridge before the flies and the mold start coming, but he can’t be bothered to get up and, god, he’s never felt more lazy in his entire life. He wonders whose fault that would be attributed to. Oh, he so does wonder.

“Maybe you ate it all before I could get to it!” Eren exclaims and Levi is kicking him underneath the table before Eren’s laughing weakly. “I’m kidding. I saved it for you, of course.”

Levi ceases all kicking. “You didn’t have to,” he mutters.

“But I wanted to.”

“But you still didn’t have to.”

“But I still  _wanted_  to.”

This conversation is going absolutely nowhere, and it’s already way too late for Levi to be hounding Eren about the food that he’s already shovelled into his stomach like a starving man. He’s fighting with a weak argument and Eren’s personality is already far too stubborn for Levi to be able to make a single dent.

“How am I going to get all this to the fridge? I’ll have to make like fifteen trips,” Levi asks himself, scraping his chair back and readying himself for the hardest standing-up of his life.

“Seven, if I help,” Eren offers.

“Oh? You actually split that in my favour. How sweet.”

“Never mind. Eight for you, then. Seven for me.”

Levi scoffs before getting up. “You really are insufferable, kid.”

“Hey!” Eren protests before hobbling to his feet as well. “You should be nicer to the one who got the food!”

That’s right. He really did get the food, and he paid that much for it too without asking for anything in return or even little compensation. And now all they’re doing is arguing like some stupid married couple who’s been eating together for years.

“I never did thank you for the food.” Levi turns his head away because, Jesus Christ, this is actually harder to do when he’s actually doing it. He never has things done for him. “Thank you.”

But Eren smiles nonetheless like he’s been born anew. “You’re welcome.”

They get everything to the fridge in ten trips or less, and Levi has to throw out some things to make room for the better things. It’s really painful to chuck out a whole carton of perfectly good eggs, but what can he do? Mashed potatoes in that heavenly garlic butter sauce trumps plain eggs any day.

“You’re in desperate need of a new fridge…” Eren tells him slowly, as if he didn’t already know. “This one is so small.”

Levi agrees. “Yeah, but I never thought I’d have to stuff it so full.” It looks almost as full as Levi feels.

“I’m  _taller_  than this fridge,” Eren grouses.

Now that they’re standing side by side, eyeing Levi’s tiny fridge, he notices just how much taller Eren is. And Eren is rather tall. Tall enough that Levi has to look up to look at him. Goddammit. He never really noticed it when they were always sitting down in the store.

“You’re probably taller than most things,” Levi grumbles to himself, but he’s sure Eren’s heard it anyway.

The kid stands there, still looking far too concerned about someone’s damn fridge. And why in the world is Eren even the one complaining? He’s not going to do anything crazy like get Levi a whole new fridge, is he? Eren’s got a crazy amount of money and he’s not afraid to use it.

“Don’t get any weird ideas,” Levi tells him seriously. He’s not going to have a dump of an apartment room with water-stained cabinets, flea-ridden carpets, and a stainless steel refrigerator with an ice dispenser and touch screen temperature changer.

“What ideas?” Eren rocks back and forth on his heels.

“Nope. Nothing. You are not replacing any of my furniture.”

“Eh?”

He wants to whack Eren in the head as he walks back out to the living room and Eren follows closely behind.

So, what now? Eren doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to say or do anything. It’s 1 AM, and he’s looking back and forth from his bed to Eren’s laptop bag still by the table. Yeah, his bed is in the living room because couches are overrated as well as overpriced.

“Well, I’m going to sleep now,” Levi begins to say, and Eren looks at him curiously. Or actually, he somehow looks more shocked than anything.

“So early.” Eren scrunches his face up with disdain.

It’s 1 in the morning. Does Eren usually party all night with his hacker buddies? Infiltrating the Whitehouse website to display digital fireworks and play Skrillex all night long? Yeah, Levi knows what Skrillex is. And he wishes he didn’t.

“I’m a working adult, unlike you,” Levi informs him, reaching up to slap Eren lightly on the cheek, though it ends up being more of a pat than a slap. It’s pretty ineffective reprimanding someone taller than him.

Man, that cheek was soft.

What the fuck.

“Don’t you… have to get home or something?” Levi says to cover himself for being incredibly lame just now, and looking away to the blankets on his bed that he’s about to smother himself with.

“Not really, no,” Eren says simply. “But… I don’t want to overstay my welcome.” He touches his cheek hesitantly after Levi awkwardly retracts his hand, and then jogs over to grab his bag from the floor.

“You can stay the night,” Levi says hurriedly and Eren stops. He coughs. “It’s late, even though you don’t think so. It’s dark and I don’t want you to get… robbed.” He glances towards Eren’s laptop bag as his streak of lame continues.

It’s dubious whether Eren takes his proposal for staying seriously, because he just stands there with the bag strap in his hands and Levi can practically see the hard drive in Eren’s head spinning at high speeds. He should get one of those fan things so it can cool him down. Levi’s own fan works 24/7 whenever Eren’s around.

“You wanted to go out with me, right?” Levi says, and he doesn’t know what he’s saying. “So, here it is. Right now.”

God, why. Why does he say things.

“Okay,” Eren yields, putting his bag back down, and Levi actually has to do a double take from how that actually worked.

“Okay,” Levi echoes, feeling a little lost for words but also kind of uncharacteristically giddy on the inside. 

This is neither  _going out_  nor is it going to be  _with him_ , because Levi wants to stay here and sleep as soon as possible. He doesn’t even think he’s going to be able to sleep knowing Eren is also somewhere in this room, regardless if Eren actually sleeps or if he’s just going to stay up all night with that insane attention span of his. He’s never even seen Eren take a nap in his store, so when the hell does he power down?

“It’s not going to be very fun if you’re just going to be sleeping,” Eren says with a grimace.

“Oh, is this going to be a sleepover? Do you want me to get out the popcorn and make a blanket fort?”

“Shut up!” Eren laughs.

“We can watch a scary movie and cuddle and all that shit.”

That last bit actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea, despite Levi wanting to hit himself for saying it out loud. Eren just stares blankly at him, though.

“If all you have is VHS, I’m going to kick your ass,” Eren goes on to say, as always conveniently ignoring the most important parts of their conversations that Levi second guesses himself over.

“Kick your own ass,” he says grittily.

He sits on the bed, and Eren comes over to flop himself down beside him without his permission, and it makes Levi freeze up because, woah, they’re sitting on his bed together. Alarm bells are ringing, or is that just the blood rushing in his ears? 

“Make me,” Eren drags out, and that loaded statement couldn’t have been said at a worse time.

He gazes up at Levi, looking like he’s really waiting for something. A goodnight kiss? An actual kick to his own ass? Levi doesn’t know. It suddenly turns weird and quiet and silent, and if Eren really is expecting something out of all this, Levi’s not sure what to tell him.

Instead, what Levi ends up doing is reach up to smooth the strands of Eren’s hair because it’s still pretty haywire from Eren having flown here or whatever. Eren actually squints his eyes closed like some sort of dog as Levi pats him down and threads his fingers gingerly through the softness on his head, probably ridden with fleas and lice and  _disease_. And Levi keeps touching him, having no idea why he feels the urge to do this.

Maybe he’s doing it because he feels the need to thank Eren somehow for the food. Maybe he’s doing it because of that one time Eren gave him free internet for almost an entire year, and he’s never actually thanked him for that either. Maybe he’s doing it because Eren just looks stupid otherwise.

“Sorry, it was sticking up,” Levi attempts to explain when he’s done, and Eren’s opening his eyes again. “…I couldn’t help it.”

Eren doesn’t say anything for a second, looking momentarily dazed, and Levi suddenly thinks he might have gone overboard with it all. He’s always made it a point not to touch other people, and Eren’s probably made it a point not to let other people touch him by the way he’s reacting so distantly now.

But then the feeling disappears as fast as it comes because Eren’s looking away in something that seems like embarrassment, head dipping slightly forward, and a sort-of-smile fights its way to his face like he’s trying to keep it down.

“It’s fine,” Eren’s saying almost shyly. “It was… nice.”

Levi’s surprised that he feels so calm and yet at the same time so heart-wrenched like he’s about to do something he knows he’s going to regret.

"Good," is all he can manage to say, leaning back against the wall and willing his heart to stop hammering.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eren is an enigma. this story is getting less and less about computers and more and more about how cute and great eren is.
> 
> EDIT: and [ more art](http://nonkan.tumblr.com/post/90896278273/read-geychous-hacker-fic-by-the-way-dont) by [nonkan](http://nonkan.tumblr.com)!!


	5. Sleep mode

Waking up to the singing of songbirds and the new morning light coming from his window is definitely not a typical morning. Usually, mornings are more accurately described as waking up to the clatter of construction beams falling in the distance, loud ricochets of yelling throughout the chimneys of his next-door neighbours, and the obnoxious hissing of street cats performing a mating call or going into labour.

Those are his typical mornings and despite the rather unfortunate nature of it all, Levi has more or less gotten used to it.

What he  _hasn’t_  gotten used to is waking up to a spread of hair shoved up into his face and an aching pain starting from his shoulder to his neck and shooting all the way down his back and his ass. And if he hadn’t suddenly gotten a flash of memories from remembering what the fuck happened last night, he might have actually screamed a little.

They didn’t  _do it_ , that’s for sure.

The last thing he remembers is talking an awful lot about nothing and Eren rambling on animatedly about equally nothing things. At one point, their conversations might have had something to do with their favourite movies being Silence of the Lambs and Captain America: The First Whatever where Steve Rogers looks creepily CG’d onto a body smaller than Levi’s. Or so Eren had informed him. And then proceeded to get his face shoved into Levi’s mattress.

Levi had no idea who went out first, but come morning they both apparently ended up leaning on each other and still sitting uncomfortably against the wall on Levi’s bed. Eren’s head rests on his shoulder and the hair that he’d smoothed last night now blocks out his breathing and his vision and even his mental capability to think things through properly because all he can currently do is smell the smell that permeates off Eren’s head, and it’s giving him weird shivers. But for now, Levi’s just glad that Eren’s still sleeping.

As he thinks about moving off the bed, he realizes he still has remnant feelings of fullness lagging behind in his stomach and he consequentially has to go take a shit.

Levi moves to get up, or rather he would, but he doesn’t want to shift around too much with Eren still drooling on his shoulder. Not that he likes drool – he really doesn’t like drool – but if he gets up, tiresome things will happen. Things like movement and Eren falling on the bed and Eren waking up and awkwardness. He wants to stay in this little bubble of nothing happening for just a little while longer.

But Levi feels himself making a face to because he can’t help the overwhelming urge to take a shit, and it’s growing too powerful for him to contain.

So, he ends up slowly and gently pushing Eren’s head out of his fucking way and laying it down carefully on the bed. Eren still hasn’t moved. The kid might have snorted and twiddled his nose a bit but remains fully asleep. He could probably sleep through an apocalypse should one happen, which Levi so hopes one does in order to get him out of having to deal with the grim prospects of a cranky teenager waking up.

He makes his way to the kitchen, calmly tiptoeing across the squeaky floorboards, and once he gets there promptly begins to freak out.

Fuck.

Eren’s now not only in his room, but he’s lying unconscious on his goddamn bed.

The clock on his stove says 8:12 AM, so they’d gotten something like three hours of sleep, he’s guessing. They didn’t really keep track of time last night, and the explicit headache from lack of adequate sleep is not helping remembrance much.

Levi starts up making a pot of coffee because he’s got to open up shop in less than an hour, and having an undead boy less than twenty feet away is surprisingly less than effective at jerking his brain cells awake. Perhaps it’s doing more to shut his brain down than anything.

He also only realizes now that he’d slept in his day clothes.

Retrieving his cup of lame no name coffee, he takes a sip, sighs because it’s way too hot, and then walks back out of the kitchen where he almost  _almost_ chokes but doesn’t.

Eren is suddenly awake now, sitting up to squint inquisitively at him, and if Levi had managed to smooth out the wild haystack of Eren’s hair last night, it sure as hell didn’t carry over to today. Why and how does Eren’s hair always get so messy when he’d barely even slept on it last night? Fuck. The urge to go over and fix it is violently kicking in, even though doing so was inappropriate last night and it might be just a little inappropriate to do so right now. Levi wants to murder that hair for getting him so worked up about it.

And then Eren has to go and do something that his godforsaken hair can’t even compare to.

“Mornin’,” Eren slurs, and it’s said so deeply and crusted with sleep and the laze of waking up that Levi almost has a heart attack anyway.

“Morning…” Levi mumbles back slowly and deceptively calmly.

“I heard the machine,” Eren tells him, rubbing at his eyes before glancing at the coffee cup in Levi’s hand. “It was loud.”

“Oh, sorry.” Levi didn’t even notice the noise, usually zoning out the screeching loudness whenever the coffee machine grinds; a skill he’s mastered over the years of learned indifference to most annoying things.

“It’s okay. I wanted to get up anyway.”

Eren slides himself off the bed, shuffling still half-asleep over to his bag on the floor and hauling out his laptop to drag to the table. He powers it on, and Levi can’t even believe the first thing this guy does after waking up is to open the screen of his computer before he can even open his eyes properly.

“I’m going to take a shit,” he informs Eren plainly, throwing him a judgmental look which Eren returns easily.

“You’re going to take your coffee into the bathroom?” Eren makes a face saying he may do unspeakable things like deface corporate websites and steal from innocent peoples’ bank accounts, but he would never do something so unfathomably scandalous as mix bathrooms and hot cups of coffee.

“Yeah. What’s it to you?” Levi snaps, grabbing yesterday’s newspaper off a side shelf because yes, he’s also the type to mix bathrooms, hot cups of coffee, _and_  various reading material.

Eren makes a mildly scoffing face and Levi just rolls his eyes.

Taking coffee into the bathroom is actually rather unhygienic and not a customary thing Levi routinely does, despite his feigned nonchalance of how normal it really is for him. The whole situation of Eren being here and Eren casually spending the night promptly forced Levi to make an unnecessary and regretful cup of coffee in order to subdue himself from thinking stray thoughts. And to be honest, by the time he remembered he had to take that shit, he was already halfway to the bathroom with the coffee in his hands and a point to make to a judgemental teenage boy. Even if that point is as nonexistent and lame as  _I am in full control of my actions even if at times it seems like I’m not. Just shut up._

Basically, he’s acting really stupid this morning and it’s the fault of both a literal and a figurative piece of shit.

He soon leaves the bathroom in a newly contented mood, finishes doing his bathroom duties like making sure he doesn’t look like a corpse or that he at least looks like a  _passable_  corpse. He finishes reading up on cruddy politicians (realizing  _oh is this what Eren was talking about?_ ), and finishes his coffee to go dump the empty cup away in the sink.

And of course, Eren is still fiddling away on his laptop. He had half hoped that Eren would be out of the room and out of his hair by the time he left the bathroom.

He’s about to open his mouth before he realizes Eren’s in  _that_  state.

Levi’s learnt to discern the multiple degrees of concentration Eren’s face tends to make, and this one right here is pretty high up on the scale. It’s right in between the  _Can you not talk to me for a second?_ and the  _Shut up now, please_.

Levi can’t really take him seriously when he’s like this, and it’s mostly because all he can focus on is Eren’s hair. That fucking hair. He wants to run his hands through it, and the notion of hair being able to overpower all his thoughts and opinions is starting to piss him off now. What the  _fuck_  is wrong with him?

“Eren.”

Eren drones on like an unresponsive automated piece of service technology, the kind that you know can hear you but refuses to cooperate because they hate you and want you to wallow in ignored suffering.

“Eren, it’s nine. I need to go downstairs now.”

He still doesn’t move, and maybe if Levi flicked him in the face a couple times—

“Please shut up,” Eren says, and finally Levi gets a response. Although, it doesn’t lessen the urge to flick Eren in the face. In fact, it might have heightened it a little.

But Levi only groans instead, giving up. “If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs.”

Eren doesn’t nod or acknowledge him or anything as Levi walks around the table to the door, and it might have been his die hard curiosity but he turns back to peer over Eren’s shoulder at the computer.

Surprise isn’t even a word in Levi’s arsenal anymore.

“What the actual fuck, Eren.”

His fingers flying over the keyboard is only the half of it. The other half consists of a mostly blackened computer screen, save for bright white text dragging line after line of nonsensical coding as Eren types it out at supersonic speed, pausing only to scroll back up briefly to check or change something, before he’s scrolling back down and mass-producing code again. He’s also flipping back and forth between this screen and another and another and, Jesus Christ, Eren is an actual honest-to-god robot and nothing will convince Levi of otherwise. He doesn’t know how many words per minute Eren is going at, but it looks far greater than “shitty”.

“Shhh.” Eren actually shushes him, and Levi resists the urge to unplug the wifi router and throw it out the window right this second. He’s had to resist a lot of urges lately. That can’t be healthy.

“I don’t want to know,” he murmurs to himself for the millionth time, moving sluggishly towards the stairs down to the store until he can no longer hear the incessant abuse of keyboard tapping.

-

He hasn’t had breakfast yet, Levi thinks to himself.

The wonders of eating so gloriously last night have managed to sate him until the morning, and maybe if Levi can properly ration out the leftovers he’ll be able to hold on to them longer than he would have previously… Salt acts as a preservative, right?

Suddenly, he hears yelling from upstairs and Levi’s looking towards the stairs, wondering what the hell is going on. At first he thinks something could be wrong, but it sounded more like a frustrated wailing than anything else. He trusted Eren by himself and not to make a mess up there, considering he could trust Eren with the front of the store whenever he went to the back. Maybe that was a misread, though, and that when it comes to his more personal space Eren wouldn’t be able to keep his hands to himself. Whatever Eren’s doing, he better cut it the fuck out right now if he doesn’t want one of his hands chopped off. What would the neighbours start to think?

His thoughts are left off by Eren coming down the stairs, laptop and bag in hand, and looking somehow even more tired than when he woke up. Completely opposite from the concentrated trance he was typing away in and that yelp of anger.

“Morning,” he yawns again as he brings up a chair and slumps at the counter.

“You already said that before.”

Eren mashes his face onto the counter. “Did I?”

He looks absolutely beat, and Levi has half a mind to call the paramedics or at the very least send the kid home even though he has no idea where Eren’s home even is. He doesn’t exactly look fit to walk/bus there, and it might be more sensible to just send him back upstairs.

“Are you okay? Are you dying?” Levi asks, and then he realizes those questions one after another were not the best things to ask because Eren replies,

“No.”

And Levi has no idea which question Eren answered.

It promptly makes Levi more annoyed than anything. “Do you need Advil or something? Some coffee? A pillow?”

“Am I going to have to pay for it?” Eren mumbles, and with how dead he sounds, Levi can’t tell if it’s said amusedly or jokingly or not.

For once, he goes out of his way to offer something free of charge for Eren and remarkably it’s the very state Eren’s in that shuts him down. Then again, it could be Levi’s fault for being the boy who cried wolf, demanding payment for anything and everything the kid touched in his store.

“No, you won’t have to pay for it,” Levi assures him, rolling his eyes. “Consider yourself part of the friends and family discount.”

“Except  _discount_  means  _free_.”

“…Yes. Don’t push it.”

Eren shifts a little on the counter, angling his head so that he can look up at Levi and Levi just glares down at him.

“It’s okay. I’m okay, really,” Eren tells him.  Levi’s honestly more surprised than anything at Eren’s refusal of free stuff. Maybe he should offer him a bag of chips.

But then Eren actually sighs, and this is the first time Levi’s seen him look so… down? Is that even the right word for it? He looked merely tired before, and Levi’s not sure if he misread it or if Eren’s demeanour changed at the flip of a switch, but now he somehow seems like a kicked puppy or even someone who watched a puppy get kicked.

“Oh…. Okay.” Levi stares at him.

Eren doesn’t say anything after that.

Frankly, Levi doesn’t know what to do. All he wants is for Eren to stop being like this, to go back to his happy annoying-as-hell self, and Levi’ll even give him a free popsicle or something for it. Eren will scare away the customers and dampen the store’s environment at this rate. Also, for some reason Levi personally just can’t stand seeing him like this.

“Is there something troubling you?” he asks awkwardly. He feels in a weirdly giving mood to be willing to deal with Eren’s problems.

“Not so much troubling as I’m disappointed,” Eren concedes, petting a hand at his own head as if to console himself. Finally, that bed head is being dealt with. “The hijacking just didn’t go through.”

“Hijacking?”

“The program,” Eren clarifies, and Levi’s willing to bet that he’s going to regret asking about this whole thing in less than ten seconds. “The program that I wrote didn’t go through.”

“Oh.” Levi has no idea what that’s supposed to mean. “So… that’s bad?”

“Kinda, yeah.”

He wishes he could understand this more in depth, but asking for explanation after explanation now would likely not do much for Eren’s increasingly gloomy mood.

“Also, you’ll probably see a spike in today’s bandwidth usage. I had to call a lot of my friend’s scripts and their other shit,” Eren says. “Just a heads up.”

A spike in usage? Reminds Levi of the first time Eren came to use his internet, which he also didn’t get much of an explanation for what exactly happened on that day.

“Sounds like a repeat of what happened two weeks ago.”

Eren looks up, and Levi just stares expectantly at him. He possibly raises a quirked eyebrow in response to Eren’s quirked eyebrow.

“Oh, you know about that?” Eren says like he’s surprised Levi can actually do things on his own.

“Yeah, I do.” Whatever Levi’s said before about not asking for explanations, he’ll trash that idea right now. “So, that’s what used up that shit ton of gigabytes in one day? Your malfunctioning programs?”

Eren huffs out a small laugh. “ _’My malfunctioning programs.’_  Thanks.”

Levi goes back to wanting to strangle this kid. “Well, is it?”

“Well…” Eren trails off, lifting his head off the counter.

And then he does that thing again where he’s either pausing for dramatic effect or he’s actually hesitant to reveal information about his illegitimate shenanigans. The longer he waits the guiltier he looks, and Levi really isn’t a patient man.

One day, one of those guilty pauses is going to kill him. Eren should just come right out and say it before it tears at Levi’s racing heart trying to figure out what he could have possibly done. And when Eren takes a short intake of breath, Levi subconsciously does too.

“Today and also that other time are what we call  _Commencement Day_.”

That name sounds unnecessarily ominous.

Levi can already guess what it’s supposed to mean and if it’s anything like what it sounds like, it’s probably the day something or someone got destroyed.

“Go on,” Levi urges, feeling a weird combination of hopeful and somewhat afraid at the same time.

“That’s the day my friends and I launch an attack.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it stops here because i was too lazy to write the other part right now. it'll be out soon, ngAHH


	6. Resume

“An attack?”

Eren looks at him like he’s completely unaffected or even unaware of how inane this sounds. “Yes.”

"You launch an attack on corporations every so often?" Levi says, nonplussed.

"On a day that my friends and I agree on." Eren yawns again. "It’s different from just puttying around everyday doing behind-the-scenes stuff. I forgot the big day was today, this morning more specifically at 7 AM, and I got bitched at for getting on late. But I still made it in time to do some of the grunt work."

"Huh…"

Levi has to slack his back against the wall for this one, and it’s not just because he’s only barely awake and running on inadequate amounts of sleep and just one cup of coffee. He doesn’t know if Eren realizes how on edge this whole thing makes him feel.

“What does an ‘attack’ involve?” Levi asks because he has to know, even if it won’t make any sense to his ears.

“A more high-risk job,” Eren starts off saying, and immediately it puts an uncomfortable churning in the pit of Levi’s stomach. “It’s not just simple graffiti on the front page of a website. It’s logging through mod and admin accounts, accessing mainframe computers. It’s taking over and being in control of their entire online network. It’s exposure of information. It’s making the public known about illegitimately done market research, about using us as test subjects, about fraid, and how our online freedom is a lie.”

It’s all stuff that Levi sort of, kind of knew before.

“ _Commencement Day_  means fighting back and taking back what’s rightfully ours,” Eren finishes by rubbing a hand at his face.

It’s stuff that Levi knew before or at least things that ran through one ear and out the other. So, why is it that for some reason this new information doesn’t seem to sit right with him? He feels like there’s something missing, something that pulls at him and nags for him to know and he’s not quite sure what it is.

“You… could get caught easily,” Levi reiterates.

“Easily? No. We’re good.”

Levi purses his lips at that before saying, “You would know for sure? If the feds or whoever were somehow tracking you guys down?”

“We would know, and we have a fail-safe plan anyways in case things take a turn for the worst. So, we’re careful.”

But he wasn’t careful when he was fiddling around with Levi’s internet plan and got that suspicious behaviour letter. He doesn’t voice this out loud, though.

It’s not that Levi’s fully against all of this, but it’s something like… he doesn’t feel as neutral about everything as he did before. The more he’s starting to piece together the picture, the bigger the wall of skepticism is starting to close in on him. Even if it hasn’t hit him in the face yet and his vision on it still feels blurry.

It’s the fact that Eren calls it ‘attacking’. The fact that it’s high-risk. And he can’t help the red alarms that go off just by taking in the severity of those words.

Eren would mostly likely say it’s nothing, he could have used any word. It’s interchangeable with  _hijacking_  and  _taking over_  and  _hacking_ , right? Isn’t it? Perhaps to Eren, but Levi runs on an actual English dictionary.  _Attacking_  is completely and utterly a whole new dimension from all those other words. It invokes violence and a form of unnecessary aggressiveness, whether physical or emotional or mental, that Levi can’t agree with.

If he asks why Eren’s doing something so high-risk, something that trespasses into a more serious territory that Levi didn’t use to think any of this applied to, Eren would play it off like he always does, saying he’s already doing illegal things. Why not go all out? Why not do something risky? Daring? Exciting, even?

Levi once called it Eren’s hobby. He once found it silly and obnoxiously amusing the fact that Eren referred to himself as self-employed rather than unemployed. He’s never given it a single second of consideration that what Eren is doing could be something tangible, having a real effect on his life and other lives, having consequences.

And Levi’s just been sitting back and reaping only the benefits of it all like free food and free internet because ignorance is such a small price to pay.

“Are you okay?” Eren asks, and it’s his turn to look concerned. Levi’s tumultuous thoughts come to a halt, and he’s not sure if his face is as pale as he feels it is. “You look weird,” Eren confirms his thoughts for him.

“It’s nothing,” Levi says quickly. Eren already looks burdened enough with the disappointing aftermath of his shoddy programs.

He slouches on his forearms, looking up at Levi with this sick puppy look and it’s scary that he can pull this off when Levi knows what he can do, what he’s already done, how vicious Eren can be when his fangs are bared and his claws out.

And maybe all of this extraneous fussing is just a misconception on Levi’s part. Maybe Eren really doesn’t mean anything at all when he throws around words like ‘attacking’. Maybe he should trust Eren in that he can take care of himself and getting caught is simply not going to be an option, let alone have the chance to ever actually happen.

But even so, the mere thought is already scary enough for Levi to think about in and of itself.

He clears his throat and opts to change the focus of the conversation off him and back onto Eren. “So, the plan today was a bust then?”

Eren looks better, relieved even somehow from his earlier troubled disposition.

He shakes his head. “Far from it. The rest of the team got most of the job done. They covered for me since it was mostly my part that was a bust…”

“Oh, is that so?” Levi tries his hardest to sound sympathetic but its effectiveness is lost on him.

“Yeah.” Eren scratches at the back of his head awkwardly and dare Levi say embarrassedly. “They said I wasn’t at the top of my game today. Showing up late and then churning out shitty code.”

Now Eren shakes his head disapprovingly, looking disappointed in himself more than anything. It’s like they’re back to square one again.

“They asked me if it was my internet connection…” He glances up at Levi, and Levi just shoots him a pointed look back. “I told them it wasn’t that, that I knew _firsthand_  it wasn’t that since I chose the plan myself.”

He starts chuckling lightly to himself, and Levi is anything but impressed when he remembers back to that day when Eren forcefully took over his plan (and also his life and his free time and all of his thoughts).

But then Eren quiets down a bit to a surprisingly lower tone, like he doesn’t want to get to this point in the story to have to say it out loud but it would be weird to stop here so he doesn’t.

“They asked me  _why_ , and if I was at  _home_  of all places. I told them no, of course not! I wasn’t at home and obviously I wasn’t at their place, I was at…” he pauses, whether intentionally or unintentionally it makes Levi’s heart catch in his throat for that split second, “a friend’s.”

It’s what Levi was expecting Eren to say, of course. Friend. What else could it be? Nobody talks and knows each other for this long, and  _sleeps in the same bed,_  without being considered in some form of acquaintance or friendship. Friend.

“Oh,” Levi says intelligently because he seems to have nothing else better to say. “How were you even talking to them?” he asks randomly.

“Instant messaging.”

“Oh,” he says again, and he only has a vague idea of what that is.

“Yeah! And they pounced on me like a pack of vultures,” Eren goes on, mixing in a crazed look in his eye akin to that of a real vulture’s meal. “Asking this and that, who you were and if you were a hacker too that had the same intentions as us, and if I was here to recruit you or some other shit. And I told them no, no of course not. You were just a simple store owner who’s got nothing to do with anything and isn’t special in any way – I mean, no offense!” Eren groans exasperatingly, and Levi’s own head rumbles through an earthquake of racing thoughts.

It’s when Eren looks at him with that expectant look that Levi has to take his turn to sigh out, “None taken” before Eren starts up again.

“But I just told them you were this cool guy who lets me use your wifi for free. Even though technically I paid for it.”

Levi’s still stuck on the fact that he was called ‘cool’ to Eren’s friends.

“So, I ended up telling my friends about you. Sorry. I hope you don’t mind.” Eren’s lips press together in worry.

As long as Eren didn’t say any really weird shit about him, he doesn’t mind. He hopes Eren kept his quips about his age to a minimum. Also, now that he knows Eren is freakishly tall, he hopes Eren didn’t throw anything in about his height, either.

“As troublesome as it is—” Levi coughs, trying to coolly play off his infamousness. “I see how distracted you were showing me off instead of properly writing your hack code.”

“I was not distracted!” Eren protests, and Levi could have sworn he saw a hint of red across Eren’s cheeks before he’s bringing a hand up to his face to pretend like he’s got an itch. “…Not because of you.”

“You were,” Levi teases.

“I  _wasn’t_.”

Levi resists the urge to laugh aloud and Eren looks like he’s resisting the urge to fall into the counter and through the floor before they hear a loud clunk near the outside of the front door and some shuffling that interrupts them. Something always has to interrupt them.

“Delivery!” someone is suddenly calling, rapping their knuckles on the glass, and Levi looks over to see a man in uniform holding a box just outside the door.

“What?” Levi’s puzzled. Incoming restocking only comes once every month, and he definitely doesn’t remember ordering anything personal online. He doesn’t even order things online.

“Oh!” Eren looks up suddenly.

He seems to recognize the man because he jumps up to greet the guy.

He’s signing the package, thanking the man, and carrying over the box all before Levi can even gather his bearings on what the hell is happening. He’s eyeing Eren very suspiciously but Eren doesn’t look like he even notices.

“Delivery!” Eren repeats, spreading the long-forgotten grin across his face before shoving the box onto the counter. “For you.”

“Me?” Levi is leaning back, more confused than ever. This conversation is not exactly going the most informatively.

“You’ll see,” Eren tells him, ripping at the tape on the box to open up the flaps of cardboard. The energy with which he tears open the package is practically rabid-like.

Once the flaps are open, Eren is giving him the paper booklet placed on top. On it has the picture of an electric fan. But not just any electric fan.

Levi is completely speechless as to what is happening before Eren is throwing aside the pieces of packing foam, and then takes out the fan to present it on the counter.

It’s round, sleek, and deep blue in colour, looking completely foreign and new compared to everything else in the shop.

“It’s a Dyson fan!” Eren says excitedly. The inflection in his voice is at least three tones higher than usual as he goes looking for an outlet to plug the fan in. “I got it for you and the store since you can’t afford getting proper air conditioning installed, but it gets so damn hot in here.”

There’s an outlet close to behind the counter and Eren plugs it in, running back to the other side and flipping the switch of the fan on before Levi can even get out a single word.

All of a sudden, he’s slowly hit with a wave of air, parading against his skin, and even though it’s just circulating the hot air in the room, it feels cool and smooth and luxurious as it swishes around his face and through his hair.

“You bought this?” Levi blinks through the air as he fights to not close his eyes with how relaxing it feels. “You… bought this.” He sighs.

“Yep!” Eren confirms. “Ordered it online a couple weeks ago. Shipping takes a long time, huh? And it’s okay. You don’t have to pay me back.”

Resisting compensation yet again.

“But isn’t this thing expensive?” Levi’s rubbing his hand markedly on the sides and wondering how the air is coming out. “Doesn’t it cost something like a hundred dollars?”

Eren is silent at first. He’s rubbing at his shoulder before he simply shrugs and then replies, “Three hundred is the market price, actually.”

Levi looks up, jerking his hand back from the fan just like how Eren jerked his from all those bags of chips.

“Holy shit, Eren.” He’s turning the fan away from himself so he’s not distracted by its nice breeze. “This thing is three hundred fucking dollars?”

“Yeah.”

“What the hell!”

Eren’s turning the fan around so it’s blowing at him now, his hair flying up and down as he breathes in deeply and annoyingly slowly. “Because we needed a fan,” is all he says.

Again with that  _we_.

“You could have just bought a cheap ten dollar one,” Levi tells him seriously. Though, he should know by now that the more serious he sounds, the more likely Eren is to completely avoid listening.

“Might as well go all out.”

“Might as well?” Levi almost wants to smack himself in the face. “You didn’t pay for this, did you?”

Eren is looking determinedly back at him. “I did pay.”

“With  _your own_  money.”

They’re both silent except for the whooshing of air and the slight metallic humming of the fan. The droning hiss of the summer cicadas breaks through the thick haze of hot circulating air.

“No,” Eren says clearly like they should both know this by now, but still manages to sound obstinate.

Somehow, the air has grown cold again and it’s not just because it’s being blown at them through a contraption that Levi can’t wrap his head around. Is there going to be any end to the free stuff Eren keeps insisting on getting him? All it makes Levi do is want to give it back and not have anything to do with it.

Eren sits back down in his chair, eyes looking anywhere but at Levi and it’s so annoyingly teenager-like that it's hard to believe this guy is already past that stage of immaturity.

“You don’t actually pay for anything with your own money, do you?” Levi says in a lower voice.

Even though the notion of it is supposed to be sad and awful and insinuating that Eren has a terrible life, Eren doesn’t look offended or regretful in the least when he says, “I don’t have any of my own money,” more matter-of-factly than anything.

Despite Eren being in the exact same place as Levi, despite Eren’s seeming acceptance of it, and even despite his pronounced ability to overcome his lack of wealth, Levi still feels something jabbing at his heart when Eren says that line.

“Just accept the gift,” Eren tells him after Levi refuses to say anything else on the matter.

Despite the luxury that Eren tries to play himself into believing he has, he’s still in the same poor ass financial state as Levi, something that Levi hoped a kid nine years his junior wouldn’t have to live in.

And Levi wishes now more than ever that Eren had given himself more opportunities.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've never owned [the expensive dyson fan](http://static.trustedreviews.com/94/0000239c1/c481/DysonAM01Fan.jpg) so i have no idea how it works.


	7. FAQ

The fan in the store now takes a largely prominent place in Levi’s mind.

For one, he’s always staring at it. It’s one of those refreshing feelings you get whenever you have newly bought stuff around you, and it calms Levi down whenever he feels like he’s about to bitch at a customer. It’s also sleek and shiny, and now looking at anything else in his store only puts a damper on his mood.

Customers have also complimented it, mostly just stating their notice of it but probably by extension wondering how the hell Levi managed to get his hands on something so expensive. Levi doesn’t explain much besides merely stating that  _“it was a gift”_  and nothing more. These customers are too nosy anyway, and what does it matter if this fan came by illegitimate means from money and a kid that very literally appeared out of nowhere?

Levi’s definitely not thinking too much about it. Definitely not eyeing every customer expecting them to say something about the fan. Definitely not jumping to his rehearsed explanation whenever they do, and definitely not snapping when that customer so much as insinuates that the fan is  _“really nice”_. What, it’s too nice of a gift? Too nice for the store? Too nice for Levi?

Every glance at the fan reiterates the fact that it was a gift from Eren. Every bite of the leftover takeout in his fridge reiterates the fact that Eren had taken the trouble to buy it for Levi.

And every moment Eren is away from the store lays a sinking feeling in Levi’s chest of the fact that the cooling air of the fan, the excessive food, and most of all his truckload of internet, also given by none other than Eren, is going wasted. He’s resorted to watching cat videos on Youtube simply because he can now, and the tumble of brown fur reminds him of Eren’s messy assortment of brown hair that, frankly, he misses seeing.

He’s unsure why Eren leaving and not coming back for the next few days without any prior notice makes him think so hard about it. Eren has a life (probably), things to do (no doubt), people to see (other than himself), and Levi shouldn’t butt in.

He shouldn’t be thinking about the fact that he never got Eren’s phone number or email address or instant message whatever. He shouldn’t be reminded of Eren every time a 16-year-old boy comes in to buy a damn popsicle. And he definitely shouldn’t be sitting here, looking and acting as if he’s  _waiting_. Just waiting for the damn kid to show up.

“ _Hands off_ ,” Levi growls testily when one particular preteen tries to rub his grubby hands all over his precious fan. “This shit’s worth more than your life.”

“Jeez, sorry, mister.” And it’s when the kid says this that Levi realizes rather abruptly and with a start that his customer service had tanked phenomenally this whole day.

The preteen begins his slow and awkward retreat to the door with his purchase of a bag of candy when Levi calls back, “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I take it back. Your life is very meaningful.”

_Please come again._

The kid sends him back a blank stare and then leaves without so much as an  _“it’s okay”_ , and Levi sinks to the counter.

It’s only 8 when Levi turns over the sign on the front of his door to CLOSED. The miniscule amount of lost late night income effectively eats away at his soul, but he figures the money he’s saved with Eren’s miracle food can make up for it more than easily.

He walks with purpose across the floor and out the door despite the magnetic force that attempts to pull him back to his store, and this alone tells Levi that he doesn’t get out often enough. The outside air smells nice. Nostalgic, even.

He arrives at the doorstep of his next door neighbour. It’s a bar slash lounge slash cafe, and Levi’s not quite sure which he prefers to call it.

Their door doesn’t have a bell chime when he walks in like his store does, but it does have lightly-played piano music which Levi is sure turns the customers into such a calming trance-like state that they end up buying more. It’s a ploy for sure. He’s not really sure why he has such a grudge against so many types of music.

Hange doesn’t notice him when he saunters up to sit at the bar counter because her back is turned, and when she turns around her eyes widen just a fraction.

Hange is not exactly an old friend, but Levi has known her ever since he started working his convenience store. When there was nothing on the shelves yet and something of an even more disappointing bank statement, Hange had come over while greeting herself with the introduction that she was so happy to see someone with a legitimate business here. ( _“I’m sorry, what?”_  Levi had said.  _“Nothing to worry your head about,”_ Hange had said back with a malevolent smile.)

She had then proceeded to give him a handmade cocktail to toast, and Levi had stared at it saying he doesn’t drink cocktails and asked her if he had permission to sell it to his first customer instead. She only laughed and forced him to drink it. And while it burned down his throat with the flavour of something that Levi really had no fucking clue what it could possibly be, it tasted pretty good somehow or another. When he vocalized this mistakenly, Hange had said that there was more where that came from. So he’d gone over there consistently ever since.

“Levi,” she states curiously. “Had a good day today?”

“Why else would I be here?” he says with a sarcastic edge.

“And a good two weeks when I haven’t seen you in here at all?” she sulks. “What are you even doing here now? It’s only eight.” This overload of questions is really starting to grain on him even though he’s only just gotten here.

“Closed early,” is all he says.

And maybe it’s because this is the first if not the only time he ever closes early, but Hange gives him a weird look like that’s the most peculiar thing he’s ever said. “How rare! You’re a regular workaholic,” she claims, and Levi throws her a glare.

“Not by choice.”

But Hange never really likes to stand Levi’s depressive talk, so instead she heads for the fridge calling over her shoulder, “The usual?”

Levi shakes his head. “Actually, I brought my own shit.” He digs around in the plastic bag he brought along with him and removes a container of Styrofoam-packed steak and potatoes. “But I could go for a beer, thanks.”

If Hange was looking at him weirdly before, she’s probably hounding herself with questions now.

She already knows which type of beer to get in the fridge before she’s pulling off the cap and placing it on the counter beside Levi’s royal meal. It really is fit for a king, steak and potatoes and all.

“I hope your other customers don’t mind me,” he says a little vacantly. Although there’s no one sitting at the counter, Levi looks around behind him at the lounge area where a few people are enjoying their drinks, reading books, or enjoying Hange’s weirdly-named wifi in squishy comfortable looking armchairs. Sofas are overrated, Levi has to remind himself with an internal grunt.

“Didn’t know you could afford this kind of thing, Levi,” Hange says curiously, staring down intently at the food and Levi has the urge to hug the container protectively to his body. “Decided to treat yourself, huh? Instead of eating all that high sodium crap that's going to clog your arteries someday."

"They're already clogged."

"I say good for you.”

“It’s not about that,” Levi trails off, taking out a fork and is tempted to stab at the piece of meat and bite it like a dog. Then he realizes this high quality steak doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment. “Do you have a knife?” he asks Hange, who is legally bound by friendship to not judge him for sounding and looking like a potential serial killer as he said that.

“Here,” she says unhesitatingly, bringing a metal knife from below the counter. “So, what  _is_  it about then?”

“It’s...” Levi takes a swig of beer because how does he go about starting to explain this? If he has to repeat that it’s a gift like he’s been doing all day, he’ll probably explode. “It’s something this guy gave me.”

“Oh?” Hange’s looking confused but amused.

“A guy that comes in sometimes.” More than just sometimes, actually. “And tends to stay… longer than the average customer.”

“ _Oh?_ ” Hange widens her eyes and lifts her eyebrows in sudden understanding that creeps Levi out. “A guy? You should have told me you met a guy! I hope he's not gross like you are sometimes.”

“It’s not like that!”

“In fact, you should have told me about him sooner!”

Hange goes off on her own tangent now, not letting Levi even get in a single word about how totally, completely wrong about everything she is. And she’s not usually, which makes this even more uncomfortable to think about.

“When did you guys meet? Recently, I presume? Was he a frequent customer? How old is he?”

“Yeah?” Levi overlays quickly before Hange’s assumptions become her reality and Levi’s worst nightmare. “About two weeks ago. He was a customer, a fucking weird one. If I can even call him a customer. Came in one night – that one night with the really bad thunderstorm – I’d never even seen the guy before.” Hange nods frantically. “Came in to leech off my wifi and he’s been coming in everyday since. He’s twenty.”

“Twenty!”

“Yes.”

His lame, unfinished explanation looks like it already somehow wowed Hange speechless. “He's practically jailbait. Don't feel offended, I totally approve. He keeps coming in just to use your wifi?”

“Yeah... And he's not fucking jailbait.”

He feels apprehensive if he should reveal Eren’s actual identity to Hange and all the hacker shit he’s been doing on his computer. Even if he and Hange are what he would consider old friends (although it would take a lot to make him admit it), he still feels bound to protect Eren’s secret. Is it a secret? It’s illegal, anyhow.

Levi’s probably told Hange more about his life than any other human being on this entire planet, including the human beings who have even known him all his life. Even the shit she doesn’t happen to already know, she would probably somehow be able to correctly guess or otherwise find out about what happens in his life within a 0.576% margin of error. What she doesn’t know, she’ll find out eventually. Levi’ll deal with that later.

 “That’s so sweet!” Hange suddenly bursts out, hands clasped and smiling grossly. She’s already drawing conclusions about his relationship with Eren, and frankly Levi is afraid to hear it.

“What’s sweet about him stealing my wifi?” he says plainly and accusingly, cutting off a piece of steak to jab it on his fork.

“Well, obviously, he’s not there just to steal your wifi.”

Yes, he fucking is. “He is.”

“But there are so many other places!” Hange objects, waving her arms around like she’s trying to prove a point about Eren not coming here instead, the greatest place on Earth. “Your place can’t be that special. There aren’t even any chairs for him to sit down in!”

“Thanks,” he growls out, and Hange just smiles unapologetically. “It’s a goddamn convenience store. I sell chips and laundry detergent, not fucking IKEA furniture. But that’s what I’ve told him, and he still bothers to come.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Hange stares straight at Levi and his piece of still-uneaten steak on his fork. “He doesn’t go there for the wifi.”

“Yes, he does,” Levi says assuredly.

“He goes there for you!”

“For my wifi,” Levi finishes.

What were they even talking about? Didn’t this all start about where he got his food from? Which he hasn’t been able to take a single bite of yet because the last two weeks of his life are currently being called into question.

 “No, for  _you!_ ” Hange looks like she’s legitimately getting exasperated.

Levi just scrunches up his eyebrows, finally taking the steak into his mouth so he can get some protein and nutrients to his brain and actually think this through. And it’s as delicious as the other takeout foods were and melts just as nicely in his mouth.

“You’re talking crazy,” he says once he’s fully swallowed.

Now Hange looks on the verge of taking away the rest of his steak like he’s some sort of disobedient child.

But she starts firing away questions instead, maybe finally getting fed up with his stubbornness. “What do you guys talk about?”

“I don’t know… everything.”Levi shrugs. Although, their conversations tend to revolve around Eren and computers, and essentially all things Levi never struggled more with in his life.

“Are those leftovers from your date with him?” Hange jabbers on.

Levi feels stiff. “Sort of.”

“Restaurant? Home cooked?”

Levi feels stiffer. “…Takeout.”

Hange looks briefly scandalized, but nonetheless in nodding approval. Of what, Levi’s still unsure of. He can practically see the thoughts whizzing around in her head, patterns being connected, numbers being calculated.

“So, you like him?” is what Hange concludes, and Levi almost spits mashed potatoes in her face, coughing into his sleeve instead. Honestly, he should have taken the shot because Hange deserves food in her face for the panic attack that she just caused in him. “I’ll take that as a yes? A very passionate yes.”

“ _No,_ ” he rejects, although it’s kind of harsh to say that flat out when he thinks about Eren smiling and laughing and teasing him. “I mean, he’s a good kid.”

He lowers his head so he doesn’t have to look at Hange, fork poking into mashed potatoes.

“Levi!” Hange coos. “You’re practically smitten right now!”

“What?” Surprised, he attempts to glower at her, but he can feel himself hot and heart racing already. “I am  _not_ ,” he says indignantly.

Hange continues on her charade, effectively ignoring him. “I’ve never seen you like this. Talking about someone with that look on your face.”

“What  _look?_ ”

“That look!”

That really doesn’t explain much. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Levi tells her, focusing all his concentration on the food now, maybe taking a swig of beer longer than is entirely necessary.

Hange leans on the counter now, chin in her hand and looking genuinely happy for him. “So, what’s his name?”

“Eren,” Levi says on instinct.

“Eren, huh…” Hange says thoughtfully, and Levi kind of regrets telling her because now he’s going to be hearing that name far more often than he thinks he’ll be able to take. “Is he cute?”

“What?”

“Come on, describe him to me!” Hange urges like a teenage girl.

“I don’t…”

And Hange looks so insistently at him, the eyes behind her glasses practically shredding him apart for more information.

“He’s got… nice hair.”

Levi ends up averting his eyes because he’s thinking back to that time when he was petting Eren in his bed, and remembering that now was definitely a mistake because it’s starting to give him heart tremors.

But not a second later, Hange is practically squealing into her hands and falling backwards onto the counter behind her with a dramatic sigh. “You guys are so cute!” She swoons.

And Levi still has no idea what she means because she’s never even seen Eren yet, so what the hell?

“The way you speak about him,” Hange goes on trying to clarify her nonsense. “The way you look like you’re remembering some nice moments between you and him. The lack of forehead creases already make you look ten years younger. You're practically his age now! He’s so good for you, aww.”

Gross. He doesn't need to be reminded of his age from her now.

“Not lately,” Levi grumbles, cutting her off before she starts getting on to something else. “I yelled at a customer earlier. Well, I told him his life was worth less than a tabletop fan.”

The squealing is gone, and Hange is giving him horrified looks again. “Levi! You did that in front of Eren?”

“He wasn’t here today,” Levi says like that would explain all his problems.

“You screamed at a customer because Eren wasn’t there?”

“Not  _because_ of him.” Now, Hange’s looking partly skeptical and even more parts amused. “Eren happened to not be there so I happen to scream at customers more,” Levi attempts to shrug off.

And then, it’s all too late before he’s desperately wishing he could take that back.

“You say that like it  _is_  Eren’s fault. So, you do care about him!”

“Fine!” Levi huffs because there’s no way he can get out of this now. Goddamn it. “Yes, I do. I thought we were passed that already?”

He knows that divulging this information would probably only further embarrass his already embarrassing relationship with the kid. But he really doesn’t know what all of  _this_  is. Maybe he just wants to hurry up and actually know with finality on how to go about feeling now.

Hange just laughs before opening a bottle of beer herself to drink with Levi. “I’m only teasing. I’m really happy for you. Honest.”

“Why do you make it sound like you’re giving me away or something?” Levi’s too impatient now to use the knife so he just bites at his steak with his teeth.

“Because you don’t make friends easily.” Hange smiles solemnly at him. “You said so yourself.”

Yes, yes, they both know this already. He’d said it once in passing, but it was more as a statement of fact rather than any actual desire to acquire more friends. He’s perfectly happy the way he is. Maybe Hange doesn’t think so because she runs a bar counter so listening to the problems and lives of other people all night comes natural to her. He’s one of those people for god’s sake.

Chewing and swallowing, Levi just leans back in his seat. “Friends, huh?” He and Eren are friends now, of course.

Hange shrugs back at him. “It’s hard to make friends when you never go out to do fun stuff.”

That ‘date’ back with Eren in his room really wasn’t much of a date, huh? And he doesn’t need to consult with Hange to know this.

-

Levi finishes his steak and potatoes, much to the weirded out glances of other patrons who happen to notice him eating a full course meal in a plastic takeout container at a bar counter. He doesn’t mind the stares as long as they don’t actually talk to them, otherwise he’ll end up barking and snapping at them until they leave him alone.

“Touchy,” Hange tells him after he asks another customer if they’re homeless because they’ve never seen steak before. “Those are my customers you’re driving away, you know.”

“I’m technically off duty so I don’t have to be nice to people I don’t want to be nice to,” Levi replies bitterly, and this sort of reminds him of something Eren once said to him.

“I know someone you’d want to be nice to,” Hange says innocently.

“Is it you?”

“ _Eren_. But me too, of course.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “Of course you’d bring him up.”

Hange purses her lips, starting to put together a drink for another customer. “You’re more testy than usual. It’s almost like it’s because you didn’t get to see Eren.” A wink and a nudge.

“He didn’t come by. What am I supposed to do about it?” Levi’s not exactly denying what Hange said because he really did feel something like disappointment after his feverish waiting for days turned out to be all for naught.

“You closed early, though. What if he decided to come by in the last couple hours?” She says it as a passing remark, but it makes Levi jump in his seat.

The clock on the side wall says 11, and what Hange said could be true. He hadn’t really given it much thought, but what if Eren had decided to come by in the late hours of the night like he used to do? Levi had given up that he’d come in the daylight hours lately but like he’d told himself earlier today, what if Eren just had shit to do?

“I’m not saying he would but—” Levi cuts her off by getting to his feet, and Hange looks almost too ecstatic to see him going. “You’re leaving already?” she says with an all-too-knowing smile.

“Yeah. Have to get back to the store,” Levi tells her. Placing down money on the table, Levi grabs his bag and heads for the door.

“Say hi to Eren for me!”

Leaving the piano music and going out onto the dead quietness of the street, Levi turns his head, wondering why he had convinced himself he would suddenly and magically see that kid sitting on his front doorstep, looking downtrodden at first but then perking up at the sight of Levi.

It has darkened considerably since three hours ago, and it’s almost (almost) no surprise to see no one and nothing there outside his store. Standing on the front step by himself, Levi doesn’t know what he was expecting.

Unlocking the door and heading inside, he stretches and looks around the dark insides of the merchandise, ending up standing there in the darkness for a while.

 He almost wants to backtrack to not have said all those things he said before. He doesn’t know why he’s thinking this now, but he makes it clear in his head that what Eren does with his money and his time shouldn’t be any concern of Levi’s. He hopes he didn’t scare Eren off. If only he would just show up so Levi could actually tell him this. If only he could just see Eren.  _Fuck._

He breathes out a short sigh before flipping the lights briefly so he can lock up. Turning back around, he comes face to face with Eren in the doorway.

Levi jumps two feet into the air. “What the  _fuck!?_ ”

“Hey.” Eren smiles lamely, hands innocently clasped behind his back, and not looking surprised at all to see Levi surprised.

“What are you doing here?” Levi half-yells because the sudden racing of his heart is making him speak louder than necessary. He’s legitimately wondering if he’s looking at a ghost.

Eren turns his head to the side towards where Levi just came from. “Hange sent me here.”

“Hange…?”

Levi has to squint in front of him to make sure it really is Eren he’s looking at. Yep, it’s really him here. Carrying that messenger bag and presumably the laptop in it that he takes everywhere with him. Levi feels almost sense of relief at seeing him, somehow. What kind of miracle did it take to send the kid here right when Levi asked for him?

He doesn’t really know what to say so what he does end up saying is, “How do you know Hange?”

Eren just leans forward on his heels, shifting his arms behind himself a little. “Oh, I came here about five minutes ago and it was all dark so I knocked for a bit but you didn’t come. And I went next door to see if they knew why you closed early since it’s only eleven and all. And…”

Eren has a weird look on his face, and Levi’s suddenly panicking because oh shit, what did Hange say to him?

“The lady there introduced herself. I remember her name from being in the other wifi connection. Also, she… somehow knew my name? And then pointed me back to the store saying you’d just left and that you should be here again by now.”

“Oh.”

Oh,  _god_. Hange knew it was Eren. She was able to guess just by looking at him, and she better not have done or said anything crazy in front of Eren.

“She’s pretty weird.” Levi coughs. “Oh, yeah. She says hi.” Saying that is probably redundant now.

“She seems nice,” Eren says noncommittally, and it seems like they would genuinely be able to get along, though.

“So, we literally just passed by each other?” Levi wonders, thinking he just stood in the darkness by himself for absolutely no reason.

“I went to the other side first but no one was there,” Eren explained, shrugging a bit.

Levi knows who’s on the other side and he’s fucking glad they weren’t there now.

He’s also glad that Eren doesn’t seem angry in the least, and hasn’t yet said anything at all about where the hell he disappeared to (He didn’t disappear anywhere, he just didn’t show up, he has a life, Levi tries to tell himself forcefully). Eren wasn’t avoiding Levi or the store,  _of course_  not. He wouldn’t do something like that. He probably wasn’t even affected by what Levi said before.

Knowing that, Levi feels relieved all over again.

“So, what are you doing here then?” Levi asks, not that he doesn’t want Eren here. He kind of wants Eren here.

It’s at that, that Eren brings his hands out from behind his back to reveal a lightly wrapped container holding what looks like a pie in it.

“I brought apple pie,” Eren says gleefully, and Levi is again lost for words. “It’s homemade, if that’s alright? I hope you don’t mind.”

Levi doesn’t mind. Wow, he doesn’t mind any of this at all.

“And I know you have a lot of food left over already, but this could be like dessert from that night?” Eren says sheepishly.

“Yeah,” Levi says quickly. “I mean, it’s a good thing because I’ve already had dinner.”

“Me, too.”

“That worked out well.”

Eren grins like he’d somehow planned this even though there’s no way he could have.

“Come in.” Levi moves from the doorway.

He almost leads them both up to his room again like last time, but his body is already moving to the counter instead and he’s cursing himself.

Eren doesn’t seem to notice anything as Levi’s bringing Eren’s chair around from behind the counter so he can sit in it. All he does is wordlessly begin unwrapping the pie.

“You made this?” Levi asks, taking a glimpse at the pie which looks amazing.

“Yeah,” Eren says, “Well, I had help from my friends since they were afraid I was going to burn the place down. Do you have forks?”

“Oh, yeah. Hold on.”

Levi runs up to his room, hurriedly grabs two forks from the kitchen, and rushes back down.

“Thanks,” Eren says as Levi hands him one and looking slightly surprised that Levi came back so fast. “Oh, you didn’t get plates?”

 “Shit, I forgot.”

Eren just shrugs his shoulders, not worried about it at all. “That’s okay. We can just eat right out of the thing.”

Levi can already feel himself making a face. “But that’s gross.”

Anyone else would have been offended, probably. And Levi should have already been making his way up the stairs to get two plates if he was really this hesitant about it. But whatever the reason is, whether it’s his own laziness or the fact that he really doesn’t mind as much anymore about sharing with Eren (Levi’s going to go with the laziness reason), he continues standing there and letting Eren talk him into it.

“It’s not like I have any diseases.” Eren pouts, and  _shit_ Levi’s already convinced. “If you have a disease, tell me now before I die because of you.”

“ _Fine_. Also, I don’t have any diseases, kid.”

Levi sits down now, wondering if it’s appropriate to just take a piece of the middle of the pie when Eren snaps him from his thoughts saying, “Anywhere’s fine.”

If only just to spite him, Levi digs his fork into the middle, scooping up a piece and throwing it into his mouth.

It’s good. It’s good, just like everything Eren touches is. “You made this?” Levi has to confirm once more just to be sure.

“Yes, sort of! What, you don’t believe me?” Eren says, laughing and lodging his fork into a piece of pie from beside the space Levi dug his fork into. “I’m heartbroken!”

Levi just smiles with him.

This is the first time Levi’s ever had apple pie in his life, and he’d never thought sharing it like this at 11 at night would be really kind of nice.

Although, if it had taken Eren all these days he was gone just to make him a single plate of pie, Levi’s going to murder something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HANGE INTRODUCE.  
> AND because this is the premise for levi realizing "hey i need to get out more and maybe go on real fucking dates with this eren kid yeah"


	8. C:\Program Files\Games

It’s sort of an OCD thing and sort of not.

On the one hand, Levi feels an undeniable urge to stop everything they’re doing, stop eating out of the same container, get some goddamn actual plates, and wipe the table free of crumbs until it sparkles and shines and the wood varnish begins to fade into some unseemly colour like taupe. On the other hand, he wants to shove everything despairingly to the floor — the remaining pieces of homemade pie, the bent out of shape cutlery, Eren.

But most of all — the feeling that manages to override all other feelings — Levi wants to just sit here normally, eat pie with Eren normally, and exchange saliva semi-normally.

He’s unsure if Eren’s continued eating and smiling to this whole thing means anything other than “ _it’s totally normal to exchange indirect kisses with you, yeah, of course_ ”or if he even notices the fact that Levi’s just been nodding the whole time and any expression he makes other than impassive would be something equally as robotic. He’s trying not to seem so antisocial, and it’s not like this is the first time they’ve ever talked or ate together, but Levi suddenly feels overcome or overwhelmed with the circumstances. Like all of a sudden he now has to mechanically input every one of his movements into an adventure game simulator, with the consequences of delayed reaction or a wrong command being just as dire.

“There’s crumbs,” Levi says, looking down at the table and then back up at Eren, “on your face.” But he wants to say on the table as well.

“What!?” Eren wipes furiously at his mouth, making weird facial expressions in the process, and Levi resists the urge to reach out and help him because a struggling and confused Eren is almost enchanting. “Is it all gone?”

“Yeah.”

Well, now there’s definitely crumbs on the counter now.

“Is there a reason?” Levi starts vaguely, and Eren looks up curiously at him. “I mean, is there a reason why you’ve been coming over so late with food?”

“Not really.” He said that rather fast.

“Really?” Levi presses.

“Well...” Eren pushes over the last piece of pie towards his side of the container, and Levi grimaces at it knowing it’s touched Eren’s fork. “This is... like you said before. Like a date, right?”

Levi’s heart jumps briefly. “A date.” He did call it that, didn’t he.

“Yeah. Because this is the only time you’re free?” Eren says it almost unsurely, like despite knowing its truth he wishes Levi would vehemently deny him or magically find a way out of it.

To Levi, it’s borderline depressing but Eren still tries to look perfectly happy for some reason. As if this small bit of free time with Levi at fucking midnight is all he needs, simply because it’s not under the premise of bothering Levi during work hours. And while Levi doesn’t even mind because it takes his mind off the otherwise boring melancholy that he’s been so oversaturated with throughout the years, maybe Eren doesn’t actually like it all and wants more, wants excitement and thrill and adventure, and the way they’re going about things lately may simply not be fair to him.

“I might have some free time—” Levi murmurs, and Eren looks up at him again. Levi fights the elation rising in his own chest. “Sometime... next week, maybe.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Eren places his fork down in the container and sits up straighter, and the decidedly happy look on his face is entirely unfair. “When?”

“Uh...” Levi wracks his brain, picking out a day at random. “Saturday. Next Saturday.”

“Oh, a weekend. Nice! It’s your vacation day?”

“Paid vacation.”

“You’re going to pay yourself?”

Eren looks cheekily at him and Levi scoffs. “Yes.”

Eren laughs. “And you said you only took days off on Christmas and April Fools,” he says like he’s known it wasn’t true all along. “Good to hear you’re not totally a machine.”

Well, that’s not entirely off the table yet. Levi would say something about Eren knowing firsthand his way around handling machines, but he refrains because that would just make him look stupid.

“We could do something.” Levi shrugs, splaying his hands out on the tops of his knees. “If you want. On that day.”

Of course, this conversation comes to that. It was entirely too obvious. So, why does Levi feel suddenly like he wants to take those words back and boil them in his next pot of tea so he can eat them?

“Okay,” Eren says easily, and of course Eren would say that. Of course. Levi’s being completely asinine.

“Okay.” Levi takes a breath and hopes Eren doesn’t notice. “Is there anywhere in particular you want to go?” He would literally be okay with going anywhere, even a science museum. Although, someone of Eren’s intellectual calibre would probably find science museums juvenile.

“How about an amusement park?”

Admittedly, Levi is slightly taken aback at that. “Amusement park?” he repeats more to himself, saying the words foreign on his tongue.

“Yeah! I used to go a lot. Do you like roller coasters? Are you scared of them?” Eren is starting to get excited already, Jesus.

“I’m not scared of anything,” Levi insists, and Eren looks skeptical. “I mean, I haven’t ever actually been on one.”

“You haven’t!?”

“No.”

Eren’s looking at him like he’s got an incomplete childhood, and yeah maybe that’s just it. Levi’s never really had much of a childhood.

“That’s it, then. Next Saturday. Amusement park. We’re definitely going.” Eren eyes him for a refusal of any kind.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m looking forward to it.”

Levi just sighs, eating the last of the pie, and secretly wishing Saturday would hurry the fuck up and come faster.

-

He doesn’t know how they made it here, but they did.

Eren had picked him up somewhere around noon. And while Levi had actually been waiting for him for three whole hours since 9, the tip-of-his-tongue complaints died in his throat upon seeing Eren looking extra excited for today.

He’d left behind his messenger bag in favour of bringing just a phone, and Levi almost quirked an eyebrow at the thought of Eren actually without his laptop for once. Is he going to survive? Was this a lapse in judgment? Will he eventually wither away and dry up without constant wifi access? Maybe Levi should pack some extra water bottles and a wireless phone charger just in case.

“Don’t make fun of me!” Eren had said when Levi actually brought it up. Although, his face still said Levi might have had some valid ideas. “We can just buy stuff when we get there.”

Levi didn’t bring much with him except for a few large bills and some bus fare. They were only going to the small park on the beach, after all.

“Shit, this breeze smells nice,” Eren says once they get there, blocking the sun from his eyes with his hand and looking out over the ocean from the edge of the dock they’re standing on.

“Smells nice or feels nice?” Levi says, looking at the crappy wooden guardrail and hoping it’ll hold as Eren practically flings half of his body over it.

“Both.” Eren drags his eyes away from the ocean to rest his chin and elbows on the railing and look at Levi. “You know, sometimes people fish here. Maybe we can catch some lobsters for you.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m only kidding! Unless you’d really like that?” And by the look Eren’s giving, it seems like something Eren really would somehow make happen.

“Let’s hurry up and go on some rides.” Levi pulls away from the edge, and leaves Eren smirking after him.

Standing in the middle of the park, they take a look at all their choices. “So, what do you want to go on first?” Eren asks him.

“There’s not much selection,” Levi notes. There’s only a single full-blown roller coaster, a couple of what looks like shitty passable roller coasters, and then some slow stuff like a merry-go-round and a giant Ferris wheel.

If it were up to Levi, he’d rather be sitting on a bench eating carnival food and watching Eren have fun from there.

Levi turns towards what looks like a sectioned off food court area. “You can go on without me. Is there any food here that doesn’t require my hands to eat?”

“Ohhh, no you don’t.” Eren grabs onto his wrist before he can set off anywhere, preventing Levi from moving (or thinking). “You’re not leaving me. We’re doing shit together.”

Eren is entirely too close, and people are starting to stare. Well, Levi doesn’t actually know if they are or aren’t because his brain has stopped functioning from Eren’s hand touching his hand, Eren’s body touching his body, and what was that about going on without him that Levi suddenly doesn’t want to do anymore?

“Roller coaster it is, then,” Eren decides by himself. Levi just goes along with it because they’re so close to holding hands, it’s practically blasphemy.

They head for the line with the biggest roller coaster, which could probably be better described as a giant mosh pit of a line than an actual line.

“It says… the wait time is an hour,” Eren says slowly, reading the sign in front. “That’s insane!”

“I thought this amusement park was supposed to be shitty. Why are there so many people here?” Levi scrunches his nose up at the thought of waiting an hour just to go on some roller coaster.

“Maybe because today is Saturday. And it’s summer.” Eren’s shoulders fall and his grip on Levi’s wrist loosens if only just a bit. “But hang on, I’ve got an idea.”

He takes his phone out, seemingly innocently, and leads Levi away from the line.

“What kind of idea?”

“Let’s go on the smaller roller coasters in the meantime.” Eren uses that deceptive tone that he does whenever he’s doing secretive business he’s going to hide from Levi no matter what he says.

Levi’s looking accusingly at him, but Eren refuses to meet his gaze as he fiddles around on his phone. Whatever he’s planning, if he’s planning anything at all and Levi’s not quite sure what it could possibly be, Levi could probably handle it as long as Eren’s not going to have his phone shoved up into his face the whole time.

The smaller, crappier-looking roller coaster subsequently has a smaller, less populated line. If it were up to Levi, he would bypass this one entirely. But seeing as Eren insists on pulling him up to the line here (his hand has maybe dropped to holding onto Levi’s palm), he figures he has no choice but to endure through it and hope that Eren doesn’t do anything stupid while on the ride like accidentally drop his phone over the side and have it smash to pieces on the pavement.

“So, you’ve never been to an amusement park. I’ll take it you’ve never been on a roller coaster, then?” Eren asks him as they approach the end of the line.

“No,” Levi confirms.

“Any particular reason why?”

“It’s not that I’m afraid of roller coasters.”

“I know that. I mean, why you’ve never been to an amusement park?” Eren’s looking genuinely curiously at him now, halting his frenetic movements on the touch keyboard of his phone for now. Levi wishes Eren were half as interested in his phone as he seems to be in Levi’s past.

 “When I was a kid, I didn’t really have money.” Levi shrugs it off like it’s nothing even though the subtle constriction of his chest tells him it’s anything but nothing. “Or time or energy or anybody to go with, I guess.”

“Oh,” Eren says back, and it’s the kind of ‘ _oh_ ’ that could either mean he’s shrugged it off as well or that he’s thinking way too much about it in his head. And Levi sort of wishes it were the former rather than the latter.

“You and I are both poor pieces of shit but at least you go out and do things.” Levi attempts a laugh but it comes out more as a snort. “And if you dare say anything like ‘ _that’s sad’_ , I’m going to leave you stranded here and go eat some doughnuts or something.”

Eren actually laughs now. “Then I won’t say anything,” he reassures, either though Levi probably wouldn’t leave anyway.

After having ridden two craptastically mundane roller coasters, Levi can now conclude that he hasn’t missed out on much. The only good thing about them are the short ten-minute lines and the fact that Eren’s hair afterwards always looks like a birds nest no matter how much he tries to smooth it back down only to have it flown up and around from the next ride.

“You’re still okay, right, Levi?” Eren asks him, and Levi could poke him right in the forehead for saying that.

“Of course I am,” Levi huffs. “I can handle a little turbulence.”

“I think turbulence is used for airplanes.”

“Whatever.”

“Let’s go back to the first one, then.” Eren takes Levi by his hand this time, and it’s actually his hand hand.

He finishes pressing one last button on his phone that he’s been sneaking glances at every so often, and slides it back into his pocket to drag Levi across the park again.

“The first one?” Levi’s asking, still partly distracted by the hand in his hand. “You want to wait in line for an hour now?”

“Do I?” Eren throws him a grin.

They get to the monster coaster, and to Levi’s actual legitimate amazement, the line is almost completely free of people except for a few couple at the front. The plastic wait time sign has been reduced to “ _[Less than 5] minutes_ ”.

Eren is laughing inanely to himself as they half jog to the front of the line. “Where the hell did all the people go?” Levi wonders out loud to himself because there’s no way Eren has the answer. Even though he probably somehow does.

“You’re welcome,” Eren exclaims over the screams of the current riders, and he can’t even properly contain his laughter as they’re reaching the ticket guy. Eren is still shaking from excitement as he’s handing over a bill to pay for them both. Levi has long since tired of fighting a losing argument with Eren on being paid for.

“Sit wherever you like,” the bored ticket guy gestures at the empty cars.

Levi turns to Eren. “Where—?”

“To the front!” Eren proclaims with all the declaration of a leader leading a march into storming battle.

The last rides they got on were presumably done by legitimate means, so the very front of the coaster cars were always taken before Eren could be hauled away to somewhere in the middle by Levi telling him he can’t bargain with the couple in the front into having them give up their seats just because Eren said so. The couple almost got up, too, if Levi hadn’t decided to intervene and told them to sit back down while telling Eren to shut the fuck up.

It’s all led up to this point, Levi guesses, as Eren gets in first and looks practically giddy with the notion of being the first ones killed should this chaotic ride take a turn for the worst. Levi brings the safety bar down over their heads before Eren can hurt himself.

“Keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times,” the ticket/ride guy drones, and Eren immediately breaks that rule by sticking his hands out and waving them about like a maniac. Levi wants to face palm.

“Ah, it feels so free,” Eren hums, and Levi rolls his eyes.

“We’re strapped to a huge metal contraption,” Levi informs him in a lethargic deadpan.

“But we can see everything in front of us now.”

“Not really.” Levi doesn’t want to point out the fact that he only just made it over the height requirement to board this ride.

Eren shifts around and ends up brushing against Levi’s leg with his, which Eren doesn’t seem to notice, but suddenly makes Levi feel inexpressibly hot. He only just notices how much more compact this ride is than the others.

“Just wait until we get to the top,” Eren says.

“Top?”

“Of the drop.”

“…Drop?”

The ride starts to move, and it’s too late for feelings of regret now. It’s only when they chug out of the ride shelter that Levi spots right in front of them, yes, a tall ass rise and drop. How the hell did he not see that before?

The ride slowly makes its way up the climb at the pace of an eleven minute Youtube loading bar he was trying to buffer the other day. He remembers that day rather fondly because he hadn’t been looking towards the sky at an almost ninety degree angle, hadn’t been clutching onto the safety bar until his knuckles popped out of his skin, and definitely hadn’t been looking at the insides of his eyelids repeating phrases like ‘ _I’m going to die, probably’_ over and over again in his head.

The ride stops moving all of a sudden, and Levi can feel Eren nudging him saying, “Levi, Levi, look!”

He’s not sure what exactly Eren is referring to when he says that, but Levi opens his eyes briefly to realize 1) they’re currently hanging precariously over the hump of the top as the front dips forward, and 2) wow, they are really high.

“It’s really—”

But Levi’s words die in his throat as they’re lurched forward, and Levi’s not sure if he’s screaming or not (not, he tells himself) because everything he can hear is being drowned out by Eren’s screams of excitement.

The rest of the ride dips and curves like a motherfucker; it’s like they’re actually flying. And Levi doesn’t know if his legs feel like they’re being glued to the seat because of the ride’s velocity or if it’s because Eren’s mistaken his thigh for the safety bar. It’s crazy and absolutely insane, and it’s two and a half minutes of complete blur.

But they eventually slow to a stop, making it back in one piece. Levi turns over to look at Eren, and the kid’s face looks stunned silent. But from the adrenaline or fear of the ride, it’s hard to tell.

“Do you want to go again?” Levi prompts Eren to speak once they get out of the car, just in case he’s actually dying or something.

“No,” Eren relays quickly, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his head tentatively. “As awesome as it was, it feels like I slammed my head against the seat one too many times.” He makes a pouting face.

And despite Eren’s pain, it’s Levi’s turn to actually chuckle a bit.

“I think I’ll take you up on that doughnut offer. All those rides made me hungry,” Eren says once they’ve reached ground level again.

“That’s usually the opposite of people’s problems,” Levi says, and Eren’s looking questionably at him. “You know, throwing up and all.”

“Ugh, don’t talk about throwing up right now.” Eren puts a palm to his forehead.

“Are you going to?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” Eren takes his hand off his head, but still looks a bit out of it. “Probably.”

There’s a garbage can nearby that he can run to or Levi can bring over if it comes to it, anyway.

Sitting down at a table bench to themselves, Eren faces inwards to lean his head down while Levi faces outwards beside him to look at the menu of some cruddy dessert stand.

“Do you want anything?” Levi offers. “Water? Juice? Pop? I can get you something.”

“Water’s good, thanks. Here, use this. Shit’s expensive here.” He shoves a twenty dollar bill into Levi’s hand.

“I don’t want this.”

“Seriously, how do you not feel the least bit affected by that ride?” Eren demands, albeit weakly, probably only saying that as a distraction from the charity he practically forced Levi to take.

Levi eventually gives up trying to push the bill back into Eren’s hands or pants pocket (carefully and non-explicitly) when every time he does he’s only met with noises of protest or his hand being slapped away.

Levi scoffs. “It was fun,” he says instead. “Exciting, even.”

“The ride?”

“Yeah.”

“Same,” Eren agrees with a longing sigh.

“Even though it made you sick?”

“I’m not sick!” Eren protests again, and Levi decides that if he’s this lively about it he can’t really be all that sick. “It was just a bit… overwhelming, that’s all. It was still awesome.”

“Okay.” If anything, Levi’s still ready to run to the garbage can for him. Despite the thought of having to touch a gross public fucking garbage can being ironically nauseating to himself. “I’ll get your water so sit tight.”

At the dessert stand, a water bottle is five times the price of a doughnut (Boston cream; he finally gets his Boston cream doughnut break). He refuses to use Eren’s money, instead slipping it into his pocket and uses his own. Admittedly, it’s still kind of using Eren’s money unless Levi gives it back. But he’ll make a note to slip it casually into Eren’s back pocket some time or another. He doesn’t even want to know what kind of money-laundering scheme this bill came out of.

“Here’s your water.” Levi plops the water bottle on top of the table beside Eren’s head who mutters a thanks. “Where the hell did all these people come from?” he asks, eyeing the bustling family that somehow made its way onto the other seats of the table around Eren.

Eren opens his eyes to look up and over. “Oh.” They don’t seem to notice Eren or Levi at all. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” Eren says lowly, looking to Levi with apologetic eyes.

Levi just sighs because he can’t do anything when Eren’s eyes get like that. “It’s fine, then. We can go somewhere else.”

Cracking open the water bottle, Eren takes a swig before pointing ahead suddenly in the distance behind Levi. “Let’s go on that.”

Levi turns around to follow his finger to see that he’s pointing at either a tall fucking drop zone or a Ferris wheel. “The Ferris wheel?” Levi takes his bets on.

“Yeah!”

Levi actually raises an eyebrow at that. A Ferris wheel is not exactly something Eren would seem to like, being all slow and repeated loops and shitty carousel music. It doesn’t seem exciting at all. But whatever stacks Eren’s hay, Levi would be willing to go on anything with Eren at this point.

“Only if you want to,” Eren says, getting up anyway only to have his seat immediately taken by a toddler.

“I want to,” Levi contends. “Do you want to?”

“I want to,” Eren argues back with sinful eyes.

“Okay, then.”

“Okay!”

They stare at each other longer than is entirely necessary, and fuck if Levi’s going to have a heart attack right here right now.

They push forward to the Ferris wheel, and Levi almost forgets about the paper bag still in his hand. “Here, I got you a chocolate doughnut.” He brings out the chocolate-glazed one.

“Really?” Eren’s eyes turn sparkly as his fingers meet Levi’s to hold up the doughnut like it’s a gift from god or something. “Thanks!”

“I think one time you mentioned you liked chocolate.” Levi bites into his Boston cream.

“I did.”

“But I didn’t know if you wanted chocolate glaze or all chocolate or whatever.”

“Anything’s fine.” Eren munches happily into his chocolate doughnut. “How sweet,” he murmurs, so quietly like he was trying to hide it.

“What was that?” Levi demands much to the surprise of Eren if the slight jump is anything to go by, even though Levi heard perfectly.

“Nooothing.”

“Tell me or I’ll eat them both myself.” Levi attempts to snatch the doughnut but Eren takes a step back, making a show of shoving the whole thing into his mouth in the next second. Levi makes a face, and Eren tries to grin back when Levi mutters out, “Gross.”

“Too bad.”

Levi swears that anything Eren eats manages to get crumbs on his face.

“There are crumbs on your face,” Levi brings up. But before Eren can wipe them away himself like what’s usually prone to happen, Levi finds he’s already reaching forward to press a finger to the corner of Eren’s lips, wiping away the crumbs and the chocolate, feeling the softness of his skin and the delicateness of his lips, and ignoring every fibre of his being telling him just how inappropriate this is.

Eren is looking at him, and Levi withdraws his hand with a quiet _fuck_ and a mental note to never do that again.

“Sorry. It’s kind of an OCD thing,” Levi tries to explain with haste as he contemplates staying or running away. “And kind of not…”

Hopefully Eren doesn’t even notice any of this happened and just goes on talking about something that has nothing to do with anything. Levi would really like that, actually.

“I see,” Eren says instead seriously, as if he’s really thinking deeply about it. The complete opposite of what Levi wants. “Well, thanks. It’s all gone, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Good, then.”

It’s surprising and a little bit worrisome just how in stride Eren takes all of this, and if Levi wasn’t being such a bitch about everything as well, he’d be able to better tell just what it is that Eren’s thinking, feeling, wanting. But he can’t because Levi is lame and inept at many a things, and Eren is so…

“The wait time is twenty minutes. That’s not bad, right?” Eren looks to him for approval, maybe even something along the lines of hopeful, and how did they get to the Ferris wheel so fast?

“Not bad,” Levi says for lack of anything better to say.

The wait time is spent not shovelling the doughnut into his face like an animal, and definitely not straying too close to Eren because he really would like his skin to remain not on fire.

“How many?” the ride guy asks once they step up the stairs, and it seems like all ride attendants are bored out of their skulls in this park.

“Two,” Levi says, and then realizes just how weird it might look for two guys to get on the same Ferris wheel car.

But if he’s thinking anything weird, the attendant doesn’t say anything as they shuffle forward, and this time Eren actually gestures for Levi to get in first. How embarrassing. Doesn’t he know people are watching them in the vicinity? Jesus fucking Christ, Eren. Why does he suddenly feel so uptight? This was a bad idea after all.

They get in, sitting down on the bench across from each other, and the ride starts up immediately after they do. Of course, Eren sticks his head out, leaning over the edge because the cars are completely open, and they can feel the wind gush around them as they rise up and over the park.

“It’s even higher than the roller coaster.” Eren sounds in awe.

“It is, huh.” Levi looks cautiously over the edge when they reach the highest point and then back down again. It feels much nicer and calmer than the roller coaster, something that Levi could get used to.

“You look happy,” Eren says, looking at him.

Levi hears that, touching a hand to his face and not feeling himself smiling unconsciously. “Really.”

“Yeah, or… kind of content, you know?” The look on Eren’s face says he understands this feeling. Whatever it is.

Suddenly, he takes out his phone again and the feeling is lost. “Again? Seriously, right now?” Levi groans, crudely thinking that his reaction might be a bit too dramatic but he doesn’t really care at this point.

“Just wait. Wait a bit.” Eren has that look on his face again that says he’s up to something, and Levi doesn’t know what to think. Are fireworks going to pop out of nowhere or something?

It’s less than a minute later that Eren presses his finger dramatically to the touch screen, almost as if he’s timing something perfectly, he puts the phone away into his pocket looking annoyingly unaffected. And then he just waits.

Levi’s unsure what it is that’s supposed to be happening as the Ferris wheel slows to a halt, and they land rather nicely at the very top of the wheel.

They can see the entire park and even beyond, Levi can’t help but notice with fascination. They can see the ocean and the expanse of the sky, and it sort of feels like they’re flying even just staying still and swaying back and forth, even more so than when they were zooming through the air at top speed on the roller coaster. At the highest point of the wheel, Levi swears he could have probably seen his convenience store from here if it weren’t for all the skyscrapers in the way. But it’s a good thing in his mind not to be reminded of that, of that washed up place, and the fact that he’s poor as shit and leads a mundane life. Here, at the top of the Ferris wheel with Eren, he can forget for a moment that he leads that mundane life.

Slowly but surely, Levi notices it’s quiet, too quiet. Still, too still. And it’s only when the crack of a megaphone being turned on from below that Levi leans over the edge to see what’s happening.

 _“Attention riders_ ,” the bored but now attentive ride person speaks. “ _We are having some technical difficulties, and the Ferris wheel will be momentarily delayed. Please keep calm and remain seated as a crew will be here shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.”_

Levi still doesn’t know what to think as he sits back down in his seat. “Did you hear that?” he asks Eren incredulously, who remains not having moved. “We’re stuck up here.” He blows a strand of hair up from his face.

Eren just shrugs, looking up towards the sky all too innocently. He might as well be bouncing his leg and whistling a tune.

“Don’t tell me…” Levi narrows his eyes, and Eren avoids his gaze. “You had something to do with this shit?”

“No! …Yes.”

“You stopped the goddamn wheel?” Levi is appalled, and he can’t even believe the words coming out of his own mouth. “How in the hell did you possibly manage that? I was with you the whole time.”

Although, there was that time when Levi was getting the water and doughnuts, but could Eren really have gone and come back in such a short amount of time? And what could he have possibly done in those five minutes? Axe the Ferris wheel breaker box?

Eren just reaches into his pocket and takes out his phone yet again. “With this,” he says simply, turning the phone around so Levi can see, yep, a white screen with lines of code.

“You’ve got to be joking.” Levi is half-laughing in despair because he doesn’t know what else to do.

“Not even a little.”

“You hacked the fucking Ferris wheel.”

“This may be an old amusement park, but all their shit runs on wifi. It’s crazy,” Eren says that sounding like he’s legitimately surprised at just how crazy it is.

But it’s not as crazy as all this, not nearly. Levi really does put a palm to his face this time as he realizes they’re going to remain up here for a lot longer than he originally intended. Will he ever get used to this? This random hacking at random times out and about? Every time Eren takes out his phone will make Levi wonder if some travesty’s going to happen. Not that all this is _that_ much of a travesty.

“What else did you do?” Levi accuses, and Eren looks up at him like a deer in headlights. “Come on, don’t give me that. I know you’ve been fiddling around on that phone all day.”

If Eren’s about to throw out one of his chronic lies, Levi hopes he’s swallowing it back down with the cutthroat expression Levi’s hounding him with.

“I may have cut the power to some of the rides, you know, the smaller ones we went to… so people would leave the lines. And then started them back up again once we got there,” Eren reveals with an almost-sulk.

“That’s…”

…Crazy insane. But Levi’s not going to say that when Eren’s giving him that look of somewhere between ‘ _I don’t regret what I did_ ’ and ‘ _I did it for you’_.

Because that’s the kind of guy Eren is. Doing things because he simply wants to, for his own convenience, at the expense of others. Taking money whenever he feels like it, falsifying records, exposing criminality while he continues to hide amongst it himself. As long as no one is actually being harmed, right?

“Why do you do this?” Levi says slowly because he’s still less than convinced that Eren will give him a straight answer. If he even has an answer.

“The view is nice up here, isn’t it?” Eren says.

“I mean all these things. The food, the wifi, the fan.”

It’s a lot of things that Levi can’t ever hope to possibly pay back within his lifetime.

“For you, obviously,” Eren replies this time with the hidden arrogance and conviction of a simple-minded child who still doesn’t truly understanding the consequences of his actions. “You’ve asked me this so many times already,” he huffs.

“Because you never give me a proper answer.”

“Because I don’t have one!” Eren raises his voice now and doesn’t seem to care that the ride is open and his voice probably carries to all the other riders also stuck here. Eren looks away, face delicate and expression crestfallen. “I just felt like doing those things for you. Is that so bad? Am I not allowed to when I have the resources and opportunity to do it? There’s no special reason for it and I’m not asking for anything in return. Except…”

 _Except for_ … Monetary payback. To use Levi as an alibi. Blackmail. To stay quiet in case things turn bad with Eren’s hacking business. To keep using his store as a safehouse. To stay on Levi’s good side. To kill time. Whatever it is, Levi’s ready to hear it.

“Except maybe for you to like me.”

Eren stares out into the sky, wind bristling through his hair and his clothes and making him squint his eyes. Of all things, Levi was definitely not ready to hear that.

Eren has his elbow on the side of the car, chin in his hand, and looking cruelly down presumably at the ride attendants running around frantically trying to soothe the other passengers and line-waiters. They’re not going to stop until Eren gives the word because up here on top of the Ferris wheel and in front of his phone and his laptop and connected to a good wifi network, Eren’s got all the power.

“I’m not telling you what to do or feel. Maybe you don’t like me, and that’s okay, too,” Eren goes on in a voice trying hard not to sound downtrodden. “But in coding when you come across a block or some god awful error you’ve no hope of solving, you’ve got to empty out your entire arsenal trying to get through it and figure it out. You have to try everything you can think of, even if you have to stay up hours and hours wondering about it, thinking about it. And so this is me, trying my best not to get disconnected.”

Eren finishes, red brushing his cheeks and chest heaving a little.

It’s the shittiest, most nonsensical metaphor Levi’s ever heard. And whether or not he fully understands it, he thinks he can at least get the gist of Eren’s point.

Levi stands up, trying to hold his balance on the dangerous swaying of the Ferris wheel car even though they said standing up’s not allowed, and sits himself back down on the other side next to Eren. Eren doesn’t move, doesn’t even look at him, maybe out of embarrassment or even complete stubbornness of what he just confessed.

Either way, he’s slouching so low in his seat that all Levi is able to do is sigh and reach up to pat a hand to Eren’s head. It startles the shit out of Eren, and his head jerks around to finally give Levi soft eyes and the most endearing beginnings of a smile that makes Levi’s heart fall apart.

But whether Levi is doing this just to console Eren or if he’s just getting really fucking irked from how messy that hair has gotten throughout the day, Levi figures he doesn’t have to think too deeply about it. He just wants to do this right now and if it seems like it’s good enough for Eren, then it’s good enough for him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter came out later than usual. i was busy and doing stuff and yeah  
> to make it up to you guys, i'll reveal that the first two craptastic roller coaster rides were called "revenge of the military police" and "the garrison sucks". the awesome monster coaster was of course called "legion of the survey corps"


	9. Decode

Levi realizes this is an opportune moment for… things to happen. Sitting at the peak of an unmoving Ferris wheel, one that will conveniently stay unmoving for however long Eren deems adequate, and staring out into the colouring afternoon sky and across the park really sets the mood. What kind of mood, one might ask? Levi is unsure how to exactly put that particular contraction of feelings into words; after all, Levi is not really an expert on mood-setting for romantic type situations.

Honestly, where is he even going with this? Oh right, nowhere. Literally.

They’ve been up here for about ten minutes so far, with Eren still tapping idly on the blank screen of his phone and otherwise looking like he’s not daring to make a single move.

“Of course, I like you, kid,” Levi says.

Eren finally looks up as he hears that. “You do?”

“Yeah.”

The air quiets and there’s some frantic shouting from below, probably from complaining passengers and apologetic attendants.

“Sorry,” Levi says offhandedly, trying not to further ruin the beautiful mood. Okay, it’s already ruined. “I don’t usually do this.”

“Me neither,” Eren quickly interjects.

Levi turns his head slightly to stare at Eren who only seems to shrink in on himself. “I mean, I don’t usually do this whole petting thing with just anyone. Or at all,” Levi says slowly.

That came out more awkward than he intended it to.

“Oh.” Eren slouches down even more so, and Levi ends up retracting his hand. “I know. You said that the last time. I don’t usually have people… petting me often, anyway.”

Oh, god. Eren remembers last time.

Well, at least now they’re even in terms of awkward hair-petting talk. Leave it up to Eren and himself to turn romantic Ferris wheel rides into conversations about pet play.

“Well, if you forgive me then that’s good enough,” Levi mumbles, half-hoping that Eren just won’t respond to his ramblings anymore. He can’t help but apologize so damn often now.

“There’s nothing to forgive!” Eren turns to him seriously and sits up straighter. Although, he still refuses to look at Levi, instead gazing away to the other side at the empty seat. “I… well, to be honest, I’ve never really had anyone just pat my head like that. If that doesn’t sound stupid.”

“It doesn’t,” Levi supplies unhelpfully.

Eren sort of smiles a little. “It feels a little homely – nostalgic, even? Not sure how since I have nothing to compare it to. I didn’t have much of a family, either, you know?”

Levi doesn’t have to ask to know already.

Eren quiets down, just breathing in the crisp air now. Levi does too.

“I’ve been fending for myself as long as I can remember,” Eren says in one last breath.

And Levi can understand, painfully so.

He understands from the look on Eren’s face, from the way he acts and lives in the world, and from the unspoken words that Eren doesn’t have to say.

What he doesn’t understand is how Eren manages to keep such a positive outlook. Being forced to be independent and resourceful just to survive. How easy it would have been to grow up unreliant and selfish and apathetic about the state and cruelty of the world. How close his circumstances were to have grown up being like Levi. How absolutely crushing it would have been for their paths to never have crossed.

But instead, Eren is understanding and kind. He’s optimistic at his best and a determined realist at his worst. While he’s critical about the harsh realities of the current unjust world, he still believes that it can be fixed. Learning to hack has provided him a way to survive as well as go out of his way to help the general populace, the people who have done nothing to help him, nothing but spite him, as Levi thinks about just how many times Eren must have been kicked out of stores for loitering long hours and taking up their wifi. And these same people will continue to be uninformed of the things Eren probably does for them in the future. Levi may just be growing on Eren’s cause.

And Eren is apparently okay with all that while being downright forgiving to the people who many, including Levi, would say abandoned him in his early stages of life. But Eren is either ignorant or much too understanding, and like the kid said before,  _‘there’s nothing to forgive’._

Eren looks shiftily to the side. “So you really like me, huh…”

Levi can barely process that before they're rudely but duly interrupted.

“ _Attention_ ,” the megaphone from down below cracks again and splits open both of their ear drums even though they’re so far up. “ _The source of the problem has been identified and we are currently looking into it. Please remain calm and seated. The ride will be back up shortly.”_

“Shit!”

Eren frantically turns on his phone and begins typing away on it with his two thumbs, and whatever meaningful mood they had is irretrievably lost. It was nice while it lasted.

“Did you forget to build up a good defence of firewalls?” Levi says, only partly serious.

“You could say that…” Eren occasionally drifts his gaze to see what the people down below are getting to. “Or you could say that I didn’t build up anything at all to prevent them from tracking my phone…”

“Eren!” Levi exhales sharply, and spills of giggles start coming out of Eren. “What’s wrong with you now?”

“Nothing. I was just remembering the time you first mentioned my firewalls.”

“ _Eren_.”

“It’s okay!” Eren practically sticks out his tongue. “Even if they  _do_  manage to trace it back to me, I’m still connected to the park’s own wifi network. They’d have to interview every staff and person here to see exactly who—”

“I get it, I get it.” Levi actually barely gets any of it. “Just start up the damn ride, then.”

The wheel starts moving mechanically slow again a couple minutes later, and all is apparently well.

When it’s Levi and Eren’s turn to get off, the ride attendant makes a point of asking them if they were okay being stuck at the top.

“It’s okay. It was romantic,” Eren pipes up before Levi can give an answer.

At that, both Levi and the attendant turn to stare at him. Levi is sure his stare consists of something actually a little hostile, though.

“I mean… the view was romantic,” Eren explains sheepishly. “Not because we were doing anything weird—”

“Okay, we’re leaving,” Levi announces to everyone but mostly to Eren as Levi takes him by the arm and hauls him away before he can utter anything more embarrassing.

“But-But he’s going to misunderstand!” Eren splutters.

“He’s already misunderstood.”

And with no hope of redemption, if the look on the attendant’s face is any indication.

They run back through the lines and back out onto the park grounds, and Levi’s not really sure why they were half-jogging so fast by the time he notices the give Eren’s wrist keeps having in his hold and the constant stream of  _“Wait!”_  that follows behind him. Maybe Levi just really wants to get out of there and not give the attendant’s face the chance to possibly turn from disbelief to smirking.

“Oh,” Eren suddenly exclaims, and Levi slows down to look at him. “I forgot the water bottle on the ride.”

He says that so dully that Levi has no choice but to let go of his arm and scrunch his face up towards the sky. “Just when I stopped thinking you’re more trouble then you’re worth.” He sighs.

Eren frowns at that. “Rude.”

“I was kidding.” Levi frowns back.

“Your sense of humour sucks.”

“So does yours.”

And it’s something weird that starts welling up in Levi’s chest. Something large and warm and balloon-like. Levi for some reason has the urge to just wrap his arms around Eren. Just hug him. He seems like he could use one.

“Do you wanna get out of here?” Eren asks him.

“Yeah,” Levi agrees.

-

It’s not until they’re at the edge of the park that Eren starts pulling Levi towards the open part of the pier again. It smells even more heavily of fish and sea salt here, and Levi has the depressing feeling that his clothes are going to be soaked with the smell by the time he gets home.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Eren says, looking out into the water and beckoning Levi with his hand to come up closer to the railing with him.

Levi does, admittedly not as taken with the sight as Eren is. “You really like water, huh?”

Eren smiles lazily. “Maybe. I don’t know.” Levi just looks over at him and stares. “Okay, yeah. I do.”

He waits for Eren to elaborate, but he doesn’t. Eren takes one last look and then pulls away from the railing altogether to start walking along the boardwalk, away from the sidewalk and in the opposite direction of the bus stop.

Eren looks back at him expectantly, and Levi realizes Eren actually wants him to follow. When he offered to get out of here before, Levi assumed he meant to go back home. Isn’t that what normal people would think?

“Do you want to take a walk?” Eren calls to him, only now apparently thinking to ask. His voice sounds so sinfully hopeful. “Along the pier.”

Levi doesn’t think he has much choice in the matter.

“Sure.” He lets out a breath because he knows this is Eren’s dumbass way of saying he wants to spend more time on this shabby first date.

Whatever. It’s not like Levi’s got anything or anyone to go home to.

The boardwalk is considerably less crowded and leaps and jumps less chaotic than the park. Eren seems to enjoy the calm as well, and Levi has no fucking idea how long this pier goes on to. The wooden boards squeak below them with every step, and Levi wouldn’t be surprised if one of them falls right through.

“I can’t swim,” Levi blurts, not really sure why he feels the need to voice this out loud. He looks cautiously over the edge towards the water a little ways away as if it could hear him and suddenly want to pull him under just for saying that.

“What?” Eren is looking at him, almost flabbergasted like he can’t believe such lies. “You really can’t swim?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am fucking sure I can’t swim.”

Levi narrows his eyes. And while he’s sure that if he were to actually try swimming, he’d probably be able to learn do it somehow or another, or be at least partially mediocre at it.

But before he can go on, Eren exclaims over him, “Okay, no more depressing talk for today!”

“The fact that I can’t swim isn’t depressive talk.”

“Yes, it is,” Eren insists using reasoning that escapes Levi. “It’s probably related to some childhood trauma of you almost drowning or something.”

“It is  _not_ ,” Levi says back. And when Eren gives him a look that tells him to go on, Levi continues to say, “I never actually swam before.”

At that, Eren gives him the most dramatically pitying look. “How sad.”

“Shut up.” Levi curls his lip as he shoves at Eren’s shoulder, who just laughs again, and Levi can never get tired of hearing that.

"It’s okay, I could probably save you if you drown," Eren remarks.

"Really?" Levi doesn’t believe him. "Do you even know how to save drowning people?"

"Yeah!" Eren puts a finger to his chin. "I just hold your head above the water, and hug you to my chest…"

He stops talking, and out of the corner of his eye Levi can see Eren looking towards the ground, lips pressed together.

"Take you to dry land," he says quietly, "and if you’re not breathing, then…"

Levi has an idea of where this is going, but he doesn’t say anything and Eren stops as well.

But then Eren suddenly puffs out his chest like he’s ready to do a salute or make some sort of speech. It ends up less than impressive when all he ends up saying is, “Nevermind,” with a large exhale.

That was surprising. It was a serious topic about drowning and not being able to breath, and yet Levi already feels like he isn’t able to breathe from all that.

"Now for the rest of this time, we are only going to talk about happy stuff,” Eren says. He’s probably not going to take no for an answer, either.

“…Meaning?” Levi doesn’t really know what to think right now.

“ _Meaning_ ,” Eren emphasizes, making dramatic sweepings of his legs every time he steps, “I’m going to ask you things like  _‘What’s your favourite colour?’_ ”

“Why?”

“And you’re going to have to answer them,  _because_ …” Eren pauses to think. “Because I don’t actually know your favourite colour and that’s kinda weird, isn’t it?”

“Is it?”

It doesn’t seem all that weird to Levi. Even if maybe they do talk about weird things to a certain questionable degree.

And maybe, yes, they’ve spent an unusual number of hours together for such a small timeframe of knowing each other. But maybe Levi doesn’t want to be normal people,  _normal friends_ , who talk about their favourite colours and favourite animals and ideal types. If Levi’d been asked before about his ideal “type”, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to come up with an answer.

It’s really not that weird that the two of them instead talk about internet security and government conspiracies and the reason why Levi’s convenience store has such a weird fucking name as “ _Reconnaissance_ ”.

“I don’t know. Ask Erwin,” Levi had said, truly not knowing the reason why.

“Who’s Erwin?” Eren had said back.

“Nevermind.”

Maybe the reason why they’d never discussed stupid things like favourite colours was because their relationship was never meant to. It was never meant to be anything more than customer and store owner, or  _acquaintances_  if Levi really wants to push it. It had started off under a strange foundation, and the developments of which are still quite unknown to Levi.

“It’s definitely weird,” Eren says, managing to come to the exact opposite conclusion as Levi in the last few moments. “So, what’s your favourite colour?” Eren continues, ignoring Levi’s undoubtedly judgmental stares. “Don’t even lie to me. You have one.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“Okay, sorry.”

Eren’s waiting expectantly, continuing to be such a little pissbaby.

“It’s red.” Levi shrugs and scratches at his arm. It sort of feels like he just pulled this one out of his ass.

“Oh, that’s kind of nice.” Eren nods to himself like he’s thinking way too hard about it. “Mine’s green.”

It goes back and forth like some irritating version of twenty questions or elementary school ice breakers. To anyone else, it probably seems like they hardly know each other at all.

“Favourite animal?” Eren asks after they hit an area with lines of coin telescopes.

“Hm.” Levi has to think about this one since Eren had arbitrarily told him earlier that it was against the rules to say ‘ _I don’t know’_. What are these so called rules, anyway? Levi would like to know. “Maybe a dog,” he ends up saying instead.

“Oh, how boring.”

Levi grunts. “Okay, I change my answer to wolf.”

Eren seems to start making weird sounds like he’s trying to hold in another badly concealed protest about the rules again. But it’s left for naught as he suddenly jogs up to an old rusted telescope instead. Of course he would.

Eren starts playing with the thing that looks sea-encrusted and slimy to the touch. “Wolves are pretty cool. I swear I saw one in the park once,” he says absentmindedly, probably paying more attention to the damn telescope now.

“Are you sure it wasn’t just a really big dog?” Levi stands beside him now, not wanting to look at the decaying abomination of what probably used to be a rather nice and functioning telescope.

“…It might have been a really big dog,” Eren admits. He holds up the telescope now, bending over and put an eye up to it. Levi can see him frowning at it. “I can’t see anything,” he says disappointedly. He looks like he’s almost sulking.

“Of course not.” Levi rolls his eyes.

“Here, try.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Come on! I just want to know if it’s me or the telescope.”

He holds the telescope out, stepping out of the way, and beckoning Levi over with a jerk of his head in the direction of the thing. The thing that Levi would really rather not catch some kind of mould disease from.

He grimaces though, leaning forward and letting Eren hold the telescope up for him as he tries to take a look through. The lens is scummy and Eren’s hand looks really soft up close.

“I can’t see shit,” he concludes, standing up again and Eren lets go of the scope.

“Ah, too bad.”

Eren sniffs at the air a bit, and Levi is horrified to see Eren just wipe is hand on the backs of his pants as they walk back to the pathway.

“I hope you’re planning on washing your hands.” Exactly where, though, Levi doesn’t know. It’s not like there are sinks and soap just sitting around the pier. But Levi can’t help staring at Eren’s hands now clasped together innocently and effectively spreading germs behind his back.

“Of course I am,” Eren says, tone too high like he definitely wasn’t planning on anything. “In the ocean.”

“What.”

But before Levi can get an explanation – or even a little forewarning would have been nice – Eren is already grabbing onto his hand and dragging him off the path and down the hill to the beach. “Sorry, I got your hand dirty, too. You’ll have to come and wash them with me.” He doesn’t even sound like he’s sorry at all.

“Fucking great.”

“And sorry, I’m abusing your OCD.” Still doesn’t sound sorry.

“It’s okay,” Levi mutters, realizing that he doesn’t particularly feel bothered to rip his hand out of Eren’s dirty, contaminated fingers as much as he thinks he should be. “It’s not really OCD, I guess.”

“Huh.” It’s like Eren realized that before Levi did.

They run through the deserted beach, sand getting into Levi’s shoes like there’s no tomorrow. Eren seems okay because he’s wearing sandals.

For how eagerly Eren is frolicking through the beach, it almost seems like he’s forgotten all about his so-called nonchalance for water, his downright obsessive need to be constantly around an internet source, and it most definitely seems like washing his dirty ass hands are the last thing on his mind.

He lets go of Levi’s hand when Levi comes to a halt, and Eren keeps going, throwing off his sandals and stepping into the water up to his ankles.

“Are you a child?” Levi says with distaste as Eren looks out into the horizon. “There’s no need for you to jump in the goddamn water. Just stick your hands in and…”

Eren just stands there like he forgot what he was doing. “Oh, right.” He wiggles his hands in the water a little. “Okay, done. Come in with me, Levi. It’s nice.”

“No way in hell.”

“It’s kind of cold and feels like there’s little fish swimming around my toes,” Eren says excitedly and hopping around a little.

“Seriously?” Levi immediately retracts his hand from the shallow edges of the water. Just how sanitary is it to be washing hands in water where fish are swimming? Not very. There’s not even any soap so how effective is this even.

Instead, he sits down tiredly just out of reach of the push and pull of the waves to take off his socks and shoes.

“Is that your favourite animal, then? Fish?” Levi asks at random because Eren never actually said what it was.

Eren hums, getting out of the water to shake his hands dry and fall down beside Levi in the sand. “Maybe. Maybe a shark or something.”

Levi raises an eyebrow as he shakes sand out of his shoes. “That’s quite a deadly choice.”

“No, actually!” Eren counters. “Sharks are tamer than you think and will only attack humans when they feel threatened. Like if you squirt blood in front of them or poke them in the face, obviously they’re going to attack.” Eren leans back in the sand now to look up at the darkening sky as he says this. “They’re very misunderstood creatures, you know.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really.”

Levi has no choice but to believe him because he knows jackshit about sharks, and Eren will probably drill it into his brain the fact that sharks are cute friendly things despite the sharp teeth and the fins and don’t they sleep with their eyes open?

Levi decides to keep his mouth shut for the time being and Eren does as well. It gives him time to notice the surprisingly serene and quiet waters, and even more surprisingly the sand that feels clean and soft under his touch. It’s not a completely different calm than from up on the Ferris wheel, but maybe it's more the fact that they’re not 200 feet off the ground and the sky feels bigger, the air less crowded, and Eren feels closer.

This whole thing isn’t something that Levi would have thought he’d find himself liking if Eren told him beforehand that they’d be enjoying each other’s company on a cold ass beach and smelling nauseating sea-salted air, even if the nausea has worn off to a more mild but tolerable discomfort. In fact, Levi probably would have likely turned Eren down had he mentioned this would be in their day schedule.

But today turned out to be really nice.

Levi turns and sees Eren lying back with his hands behind his head and eyes closed. He looks relaxed.

“What’s your ideal type?” The words are out of Levi’s mouth before he can properly put a stop to them. But now that they’re out, they’re out. And Levi looks genuinely to Eren for an answer.

The last thing he sees is Eren opening his eyes to stare at him before he’s looking intently back at the waters.

“Ideal…?” Eren repeats with a frown, expression turning dark.

Eren looks confused, like he couldn't hear that properly or if he did that he couldn't comprehend it. At first, it looks like he's about to smile and laugh it off because this question is just like all the others, right? Just getting to know each other? But then Eren's shoulders sag, his head lulls down, and Levi's skin suddenly prickles, feeling frigid.

“Sorry, I—”

“ _How cruel_ ,” Eren cuts him off, breathing out a harsh sigh and sounding a tone just below annoyed. “You ask me this after what I said earlier... after what _you_ even said up on the Ferris wheel.”

Levi is absolutely bewildered and whatever he thought he was insinuating with his question, Eren obviously doesn’t take it that way.

 “What… do you even think?” Eren asks him trying to sound casual, but his voice is tinged with something unrecognizable like irritation and dejection put together to make something abhorrently stomach-churning. “What do you even think it is? My ideal type, huh?”

And it’s only then that Levi notices Eren’s knees drawn up, hands at his sides and fisting themselves shakingly into the sand. Levi doesn’t know why the air suddenly feels caustic.

“I’m just curious,” Eren says, starting to sound malicious. “Are you expecting me to say some blonde girl? Smart? Kind? Soft-spoken? Do you even know how the fuck this sounds to me?”

“I…” Levi doesn’t know what to think.

He takes so long to answer that Eren lets out another exasperated noise and flings an arm over his face. “I asked you to like me back – no, I  _wanted_  you to like me back. And I said it that way for a reason. Does that… doesn’t that mean anything at all to you? Did what you say mean anything at all?”

The silence after that is deafening, maddening, and Levi doesn’t know if his palms could feel any sweatier, or his mouth any drier, or if his heart can beat any faster through his veins and through the thick constriction of his throat. And at the flick of a switch, at the turn of a hat, it’s horrific the way Eren can do this to him.

"Do you really want to know?" Eren breathes.

Levi should have thought through all of this better.

What happened on the Ferris wheel, it was... important. Definitely important to Eren. Levi wants to think it’s important to himself, too – to think it means something. But every time he tries to come up with an answer that concludes it as something more, Levi shoves it to the back of his mind, ignores it, leaves it to wither and die because it’s so implausible, so laughable, that it could in any way possibly be real. Of all things, of all people, Eren can't _like_ him. Not like that. Never has it ever been like that.

It’s so much easier to just leave it like this. It was supposed to be.

So, why in the fuck did he bring this up?

For some attempt at normalcy?

For something more?

Or, maybe, just maybe – he wanted with some scarily selfish, small sliver of hope that Eren would answer his question with a resounding—

“It’s you,” Eren says in a last whisper.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i thought i said no drama! did i? well that promise is broken. does this even count as drama  
> anyway noooooot really sure what to make of this chapter. as with every other chapter previous, but this chapter especially.


	10. Encode

It’s heartbreaking. In a way that Levi never thought he’d ever feel like, it’s heartbreaking and heart aching.

There’s something in the way the waves slosh up against the shore that deafens the functioning of Levi’s brain, and the way he tries to concentrate on the water threatening to lick at their heels even though he’s far too acutely aware of Eren lying beside him to really worry about getting cold feet.

His first reaction is to say,  _Oh thanks, then_.

But he can’t.

His second reaction is to say,  _That’s not true, right? I’m not your ideal type._

But he shouldn’t.

“I… really?” he says instead, and he has the urge to hit himself but saying something right now is better than nothing.

It doesn’t particularly work when Eren lets out a humorless laugh and says incredulously, “Really? Yes,  _of course_ , really. God Levi, I just…”

Eren sounds annoyed and – shit,  _shit_ , Levi doesn’t know what to do. He’s ruining this. Is there anything he could possibly say that wouldn’t destroy whatever it is this is? So they can walk away without any casualties and without any hurt feelings because Levi really does not want that to happen.

“Levi, you’re…” Eren’s voice is on the verge of cracking, and it hits Levi incredibly hard. “Look, I don’t know what my type is or my ideal type, but whatever it is it’s probably you. Because you just make me happy just by being near you, and you’re actually really pissing me off right now because you’re so oblivious to everything but I can’t help not hating you because… because I don’t fucking know. And – and please don’t make me explain again because I just—”

“No, don’t explain.” Levi brings a hand to his forehead as he hears Eren take another shaky breath, and if Eren’s crying or something right now, Levi doesn’t think he’ll ever forgive himself.

Eren quiets down, sniffing a little, and Levi can’t ask Eren to explain himself anymore than he already has. As much as Levi tries and wants to cling to the easier road of obliviousness and constant denial, it’s time to get off it because it’s not fair to Eren and he needs to stop being so selfish.

“Okay, um,” Levi takes a short breath, “First of all, I’m… sorry.”

Eren makes a stuttered pained sound and tries to laugh again. “F-Fuck, I never thought it’d feel like this…”

“Wait, no.” Levi looks over at Eren still covering part of his face with his arm, and Levi is ready to grab his wrist in case he tries to run away. “That’s not what I meant. Shit, that’s… not what I meant.”

This is really, really hard. If Eren doesn’t hate him, Levi most certainly hates himself.

“Sorry. That was stupid. Can I start again?”

“Levi.” Eren takes his arm off his face to grab Levi’s elbow a little hard and a little frantic, and if Eren keeps calling his name like that Levi’s probably going to slowly combust. “I know I said I didn’t want to push you on this before, but I’ve changed my mind and I’m going to be kind of selfish right now. I want a clear answer from you, an actual truthful no-bullshit answer, and I’ll wait however long it takes. I have all night. Okay?”

He’s right, and Levi’s actually kind of grateful because he wants Eren to be selfish right now. Levi’s trying his best to sort himself out, and he’s just so overwhelming grateful that Eren has zero tolerance for slow internet connection but he’s still willing to put up with Levi’s faulty existence on this cold beach at night time.

“Okay,” he agrees. “No bullshit.”

He takes a breath and starts again.

“I like you,” Levi says, and his throat automatically closes up at that.

But Eren waits, the silence stretching on, until Eren sits up again and folds his arms over his knees. “That was a little less no-bullshit than I thought there’d be.”

“I’m not done yet.”

“Okay, sorry.”

Levi forces his throat open again, swallowing once, twice, until he feels like he has a grip on himself.

 “I’m not good at this kind of stuff, but… I like you. I like your stupid jokes and your hair texture. I like how you keep coming back to the store and I can’t understand why you would when there’re so many other places with free wifi, and you could leave at any time.”

He stops. Eren still waits, looking like he wants to say something but doesn't.

“And I just run a small convenience store by myself. I wake up at seven and go to bed after midnight. I don't have dreams or aspirations or a cause that I would fight for and believe in. But… I like you.” Levi chokes.

He palms at his legs, feeling abysmally hot under the collar when he says this, and his eyes are watering a little that he convinces himself is from the sting of the wind and not because he just poured himself out on this goddamn beach.

 “You like my hair texture?” Eren says, leaning his head down on his knees like he's pitifully aware of just how lame Levi sounds.

“ _Fucking_ —”

It’s just like Eren not to comment on single thing Levi just said, besides  _that_. He’s smart but he’s got the most irritating attention issues. And all the embarrassment Levi just said, all those asinine things, Levi doesn’t know if he went a little overboard or not. His heart is jumping around wildly and he can’t properly settle down. He wants to get up and run straight into the water now and drown himself.

“And you like me? In that way?” Eren says again, hopeful, peering up at Levi from his knees now. It’s so scathingly and illegally cute.

“Yeah,” Levi answers, gripping and ungripping at the sand. “In that way.”

“In what way?” Eren pushes.

“In…”

His brain is in a whirl but in the next moment, Levi suddenly imagines kissing Eren for some reason. His lips are right there, slightly ajar as he waits for the answer. And Levi suddenly imagines holding Eren’s neck, feeling what his skin there would feel like, and then placing his lips on Eren's. Like they have all the time and not any of the obligations, and Levi just wants to throw away this horrible mood and the painful feelings he's caused Eren by really really kissing him.

“In every way. I guess,” Levi ends up saying, feeling embarrassed at himself for thinking such a thing. Stop thinking, stop thinking.

Eren’s lips curl for half a second before he turns his head back in to his knees. His toes curl and uncurl in the sand and his fingers tremble a little as he breathes out a muffled, “I’m so relieved.”

Frankly, Levi thinks he’s the one who should be relieved. He’d never meant for Eren to go through this sort of emotional agony for the last half hour or however long it's been. And Levi feels a little bit lighter now, himself.

“I like you too, Levi,” Eren says. “In that way. In every way.”

Shit.

Shitting hell.

“I got it,” he talks over Eren so he doesn't have to keep hearing this over and over again. Just when he thought his heart rate was starting to control itself, it starts speeding off again, running down the fast track.

“Levi, I want you to know that don't care about the stuff you said about your dreams and aspirations. Really, I don't."

"I know."

"I like you the way you are.”

It always halts Levi's thoughts whenever Eren says that phrase now, he'll never be able to get used to it.

“Do you want me to explain all my reasons why?” Eren says tauntingly, definitely tauntingly.

“No. Please don’t.”

“Hm? Why?” Eren turns to pout at him, and he really needs to stop that right now.

“It’ll be embarrassing. Don’t make me throw sand at you.”

“Wow!”

Levi doesn’t think he’ll be able to take it right now if Eren started firing off reasons.

He makes a menacing show of gathering a clump of damp sand in his hand, having it spill out in all directions. “I really will do it, Eren. I don’t give a shit if you’re the one I like, I’ll pour this fucking sand down your pants…”

But before he can get any further Eren launches himself at him, making Levi spill all the sand as Eren ends up in between Levi’’s drawn up legs and wrapping his arms around Levi’s head.

Levi’s breath is caught in his throat because Eren is hugging him, and he’s never done anything like this before.

“Seriously, thank you,” Eren tells him quietly.

Will Levi’s heart ever catch a break?

“It’s-It’s…” Levi splutters into Eren’s shoulder.

“No, really.” Eren hugs him even tighter, his body smushing into Levi even closer. “I was afraid, sometimes. Maybe I was bothering you coming into your store all the time, even though you’d never told me to get out. I just… couldn’t help thinking. I couldn’t be sure, is all.”

 Levi doesn’t know what to do with his hands right now. Should he pat Eren’s back? Should he hug him back like he never wants to let go?

Eren’s wavering doubt only produces a feeling of morbid shame in Levi. If only Eren knew of those times Levi accidentally made two cups of tea when Eren wasn’t around, accidentally told a customer to shut the hell up because Dyson fans are actually indeed efficient for their watt usage (Levi actually has no idea). And also those times he accidentally thought about Eren in the bathroom, accidentally missed a step going up the stairs because he was thinking about Eren, and accidentally might have called Eren’s name out in the midst of the empty store because it was a slow day (it’s always slow) and Levi wanted to see if Eren would just magically appear at his call.

He didn’t, but it was worth a shot.

And if Eren ever knew just how much Levi has turned into a goddamn rightful mess since the first time Eren grinned at him from under the wet edges of a rained-on hoodie, Levi doesn’t know if he’ll ever be sane again.

So instead he tentatively wraps his arms around Eren’s back in a half-assed attempt at hugging him back. “It’s really boring without you,” he murmurs into Eren’s shoulder. The confession winds his fingers tight into Eren’s shirt. “I don’t know how I managed before anymore.”

Eren practically vibrates at that. “Really? I’m not annoying?”

“No, you’re more than annoying. But you keep me busy.”

Eren seems to contemplate that for a bit before he leans his cheek against the side of Levi’s head. “I guess I’m okay with that.” He laughs, and Levi unconsciously holds him tighter.

They stay like that for a while, Levi’s not sure how long because he’s never done this before with anyone. It’s a little less awkward though, at least for Levi. His nerves have slowed and it’s sort of faded into a nice calming thing between them, even if Eren is still kneeling and practically towering over Levi because he’s fucking tall. But Levi finds he really doesn’t mind this at all. Also, Eren smells nice.

“Okay, that’s enough of that.” Levi unhooks his hands from Eren and attempts to leans back. There’s only so long he can have his face squished into Eren’s shoulder, as nice as that was.

“Sorry. I know you’re probably not a very huggy person,” Eren quips.

“I’m not.”

Eren lets go of him to lean back on his heels and he has this cheeky smile on his face, just staring at him until he calls his name in a soothing, longing note, “Levi.”

“What.”

“I really want to tell you my reasons for liking you.”

Levi is suddenly immediately and intimately aware of Eren sitting in between his legs still spread apart on the sand, and his face burns a little. Eren is way too close.

“No.”

“Come on!” Eren actually whines, looking far too desperate for something so stupid. “It doesn’t feel fair otherwise.”

Levi only scoffs, inching his ass back in the sand a little as subtly as possible. “It’ll be embarrassing, so don’t fucking do that. I’ll push you in the water and I’ll go home myself. I really will do it.”

"Ahhh, maybe I won't care?"

Eren looks like he’s holding back laughter as Levi gets up, ignoring him to  dust the sand out from his clothes as much as possible so he won’t want to kill himself later on the bus ride back home when he’s trying to discretely scratch leftover sand out of his ass. Eren gets up as well, slipping his sandals back on as Levi shakes the sand out of his socks and shoes.

“Ah, sorry about that, though. I didn’t really think about your shoes getting dirty and stuff,” Eren says, reverting back surprisingly fast to a guilty puppy scratching the back of his head. 

“It’s fine. It’s annoying but fine.”

Levi only wishes he was one of those wealthy types who could just throw their shoes away in the middle of the day and go buy new ones indiscriminately.

“I’m going to put these on back at the boardwalk.” Levi starts trudging forward in the sand.

“Okay. Hey! Uh, I’m gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

“Sure.”

He’s been really holding it in, Levi guesses. The sand at least feels soft and nice to walk in his bare feet and the beach is still empty, dark enough that Levi has no idea where Eren ran off to.

This whole thing was really exhausting; it almost doesn’t even feel like it was real. Somehow, it runs through Levi’s mind Eren leaving for the bathroom and then never coming back, dismissing it because Eren had specifically told him not to think stupid shit like that anymore, and Levi feels like he wants to make a real conscious effort from now on to make Eren happy at all times. Or most times, at the very least.

Levi gets back to the dry pier, tugging on his shoes when he suddenly feels something soft and dare he say cuddly on the back of his neck. Thinking it’s some sort of feral pigeon, Levi swats a hand furiously at it, effectively freaking himself out when he hears laughter behind him.

“Hey!” Eren says, cackling. “Don’t worry, it’s just a toy.”

Levi turns to see Eren smiling with a red lobster in his hands, a toy lobster, or some kind of lobster plush thing.

“What the fuck.”

“I got it for you.” Eren holds the plush claws up playfully, and Levi squints his eyes to look at it. “I didn’t get it in the bathroom if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Levi’s not really sure what to think.

“Did you even go to the bathroom at all?” is the only thing Levi can come up with to say.

“No…”

Of course, he didn't.

"You... shouldn't have," Levi starts to say, but Eren gives him a look like he's just daring for Levi to go on, to finish that thought that annoys the shit out of Eren and Levi already knows this. He knows that Eren's not going to stand there and feel bad for spending money on Levi, despite Levi's insistency.

Is Eren just going to keep sporadically getting him things whenever he’s not looking? Lying and then confessing constantly, even if sometimes it's just a small white lie. He lies constantly, too. Why does Levi even question it anymore? This is going to become a norm and Levi implicitly agreed to it and all the other fuckery that is Eren.

Eren's face turns red in resolute, and there's no way Levi can combat that anymore.

This will be the last time he complains, Levi decides firmly. He's always been half-heartedly taking advantage of Eren's given luxuries while simultaenously chastising him for it like some sort of hypocrite. But that's going to stop, and so when Eren holds the toy out to him, Levi hesitantly reaches a hand out to feel its head like it's an attempt to commit to his newfound resolutions. The lobser is soft, just like Eren’s stupid hair.

“Oh my god, Levi. Are you serious right now? You’re petting it.” Eren’s breaking into laughter again, covering his face with his hand. “It’s a toy not a pet poodle.”

“I’m really tempted to push you right now.”

Being made fun of every time will just be an unfortunate byproduct to Levi's new resolutions.

“Okay, okay! I got this at the souvenir stand just over there.” Eren points randomly into the darkness that Levi can’t see much into. “I noticed it on the way here and when I saw this I thought, hey it’s kind of cute. Because you like lobster, right? And I know this whole thing was kind of weird…”

Thank god he knows that, at least.

“But I just want you to know that I really appreciate you being honest and stuff with me.” Eren looks away sheepishly, pinching absently at his cargo shorts.

“It's... fine,” Levi says slowly, feeling like he’s blushing a little all over again.

“I like giving you things.” Eren shrugs, squatting down and placing the lobster on Levi’s lap. “At least, it wasn't some super expensive thing. Naahh, it was like ten bucks.”

“Ten!” Levi clamps his mouth shut.

“Hey, plushes normally cost more,” Eren insists, and Levi rolls his eyes. “One of my reasons why I like you is because I like getting you things and even though you try to be an asshole about it every time, you still light up like a Christmas tree.”

Oh god. He does? Oh, shit.

“I do not.”

“You do. You light up, and I get really happy when you do.”

Levi’s trying really really hard not to let the miniscule amount of tears waterfall down his face.

“Before you ask, the way you can pay me back is to let me keep using your wifi.” Eren rubs at his head again. “And maybe every now and then we can go out and do fun stuff like this. I dunno.”

That’s literally all Levi could want.

He doesn’t really know where exactly to go from here and he definitely doesn’t really know the specifics of boyfriendship, doing romance, and all the fun stuff he’d voluntarily skipped out on in his youth. Putting a title as forcefully as “going out” on them doesn’t seem entirely necessary just yet either, and even thinking that makes him feel warm all the way to his fingertips. But if they just go about it as slowly and normally and naturally as Eren seems to promise, Levi thinks it’ll be okay.

“Sure,” Levi says.

“If it’s not too much trouble?”

“You’re not too much trouble.”

“That’s not what you said before.” Eren grins.

They stand up on the boardwalk, stuffed lobster plush cradled in Levi’s arms. “Shut up. Let’s go home, kid.” Levi sighs.

Honestly, he has no idea how he’s going to make the time and enough money to keep taking days off. And even if agreeing to do such a thing will end up being a lie or the beginnings of a promise Levi is afraid he won’t be able to keep, all Levi has to do is look over and see how Eren is still trying to hide just how giddy he is, with a skip in his step, grinning like crazy, and Levi just can’t resist it.

He’s a simple man with simple needs, and Eren is an extraordinary kid whom he can never seem to have the heart to say no to.

-

At some point, Eren mentions that his stop is here.

“Already?” Levi says not pleadingly at all, and Eren chuckles.

“Yeah, I’ll come by tomorrow, okay?” It’s a phrase Levi’s gotten used to and it’s become something regular, but it still never ceases to make Levi feel elated like his lungs are filled with helium and he’s actually excited to come into work nowadays.

“Okay.”

“See you.”

“Bye, kid.”

 He hops off the bus, and Levi thinks about calling him back before the doors shut to maybe, potentially, invite the kid over or something, stay the night at his store again. It’ll be like the sleepover that one time when Eren brought over mountains of takeout food, only this time Levi might be able to actually enjoy seeing Eren’s sleeping face this time without conking out first and then waking up in too much of a daze in the morning to appreciate it.

But then the doors close and Levi can see Eren waving at him through the windows outside as the bus drives by.

Once Levi gets back home, a little bit of a slow step to his pace, he thinks about diving into Hange’s bar for a bit to tell her the developments of the day. It’s still open. Actually, Levi has no idea when the place closes.

But he’s tired as hell and all he really wants to do is go to bed and sleep until noon the next day. He can tell Hange about whatever whenever. She’s going to be asking and asking anyway.

He keys the lock, stepping through the front door.

Hobbles up the stairs to his room.

Throws himself on his bed.

Thinks about the day’s events. He thinks about Eren.

And then smiles a little too obscenely into his pillow.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short and quickish because FINALLY MUTUAL FEELINGS AND STUFF!! and i wanted to get this out. i would apologize for the wait, but i feel like it's going to be like this for a while ughguh. i never intended this to have drama at all, just happiness and fluff all around so i do apologize for making such a cliffhanger previously HAHA
> 
> i'm also debating whether or not i should post like descriptions of all my chapter titles? in a masterlist or something here. since there are reasons why i name them the way i do (really dumb reasons) like they have somewhat to do with the chapter it's attached to, but some of them aren't that obvious i think. not that it's really important at all. but yeah i probably should have put a brief explanation in each chapter summary before lol oh well


	11. Networking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **network** \- a collection of computers and devices connected by communications channels _(meet the friends)_

Levi’s not sure how he slept, to be honest.

There’s a lot of blank spots in his memory, from ‘ _what just happened yesterday?_ ’ to ‘ _holy shit, that happened_ ’ and everything else in between is pretty inconclusive. He refuses to fill in the blanks of his thoughts himself though because thinking about this shit this early in the morning is probably going to kill his brain, he knows that for sure. And he really feels like he needs to be productive today.

Moving his head to peer to the clock on the drawer beside his bed, he confirms it’s just past 5:30 AM, and he’s never felt more awake for four hours sleep. He idly wonders if Eren got home okay.

Levi goes to sling the covers off himself, realizing that he was sleeping on top of them the whole time, remembering that he just fell on top of them last night and didn’t move when he got home, and then realizing yet again that he still has the same clothes on from yesterday. What a fine goddamn day this is going to turn out to be.

His teeth feel weird and gross, and his hair probably smells like shit. There’s no doubt he’s in a constant state of horror as he thinks about how hot and sticky it was yesterday at the park, and how he couldn’t even bring himself to take a fucking shower when he got back because all he wanted to do was faceplant himself into the pillows and bed sheets and maybe pass out from suffocation. Why can’t he bring himself to stop thinking about last night? Can his brain just shut the fuck up for two seconds?

He gets up and is about to head to the bathroom for a much needed shower before the red stuffed lobster plush catches his eye, still sitting on his dining table. It stares back at him, and Levi wonders where a good spot to keep that could be.

 _What are you staring at?,_ he asks it telepathically.

After taking a shower and brushing his teeth and definitely not thinking about last night-type things, Levi is in a newfound state of calm when he goes downstairs to boil a pot of tea and sit at the counter. It’s quiet and serene except for the hissing of steam and the cars that roll by outside and Eren is supposed to come by later.

It feels weird, Levi thinks as he lays his head down against the counter. Not weird, but definitely different. He’s not quite sure just how to explain it to himself just yet.

Levi feels… excited.

He feels like he can’t sit still, and he for some reason is experiencing the inexplicable urge to go out and smell the summer air and just listen to the cicadas chirp when the sun gets too bright. He wants to do dumb things like wring out laundry, and, jesus, he wouldn’t even mind talking to some of his neighbours.

There’s just this sickeningly sweet feeling inside him that makes him want to take every day off if it means going to shitty museums and parks with Eren, or even just walking around the block to show Eren the area because he hasn’t actually done that in a while. As long as Eren’s there with him telling him stupid happenings about the government conspiring against them all.

As Levi pushes his cup of tea back and forth restlessly across the tabletop, he actually finds himself feeling something other than completely exhausted with life for the first time in what seems like a long time.

In fact, this is in all likelihood giving him a dangerous pounding of anxious hopefulness, and it’s the one thing Levi doesn’t like.

He groans, rubbing at his eyes.

When in doubt, attempt to clean that bitch of a stain underneath the counter that hasn’t moved since god knows when. It’s grown friends and lovers since the last time Levi tried to obliterate it, but he decides it’s going to be a good distraction, or at the very least an adequate timewaster, for the next forty minutes or hour or hour and a half.

And it is until Levi puts down the Windex bottle in defeat as he hears a knocking at the front door. Suddenly, his nerves light up, his hair stands on end, and there’s no way Eren could be here this early. He hasn’t even opened up shop yet.

But he gets up, attempts to wipe at his face and his clothes and definitely the knees of his pants because he’s been kneeling on the floor. He considers ripping off the apron he’s wearing because he probably looks stupid in it, then remembers Eren has seen him in it more times than not. So, he leaves it on.

He unlocks the door, pushing it open.

“Oh, you look lovely today, my lovely neighbour.”

It’s fucking Hange.

Levi can’t help the scoff that escapes him as he feels himself crash and burn on the ground.

“What’s with that?” Hange says, looking pouty and probably taking his scoff as it being way too early in the morning rather than Levi being disappointed because it’s fucking Hange.

“What’s with what?” he throws back at her.

“What’s with _that?_ I just came to chat, find out about any good stuff from yesterday. How was your date?”

She’s pestering and obnoxious, and it really is way too early in the morning for this.

 Levi’s silent for too long, and he has no idea what his face looks like but it’s obviously something bad because Hange starts snickering like a parrot, “Don’t tell me he’s still here? Oh, lord. Can I see him?” She’s practically jumping on the spot.

Levi’s ready to slam the door in her face. “He’s not here, you lunatic.”

He lets go of the door to go back in, and Hange catches it to follow through.

“Mmm, so it didn’t go as well as I was hoping.” Hange says that more as a statement than a question as Levi goes back around the counter.

“What were you _hoping?_ ”

Hange splays an elbow on the counter in front of him. “Don't kill me but I was hoping that when I next saw you, which is now, that you would be tangled up in bed sheets with the guy, maybe even smiling and perky after having got some.”

“ _Got some?_ ” he repeats, horrified.

“For once, yes!” Hange sighs again, loud enough like she’s in physical pain. “Is that too much to ask for, Levi?”

“I don’t know about you but I’m pretty fucking happy already, alright?” He takes a sip from his now second cup of tea of the day, almost like tea equals happiness and Levi is drinking that shit up.

“Are you?” Hange perks up. “Tell me everything! Everything that happened yesterday.”

God, he knew it would come to this. He takes another sip of his tea to stall for time and make Hange suffer a bit longer.

“You wanna know what happened?” Levi says tantalizingly, and Hange furiously nods her head. “Well…”

“Wait! Have you had breakfast yet? ‘Cause I haven’t and I could really use a coffee before I listen to this juicy story.”

Levi could roll his eyes but whatever, as long as he doesn’t have to spill it right now. “Suit yourself. There’re eggs and sausages in the fridge.” And by fridge she knows he means the fridge in the store and not the nearly empty fridge in his room.

“Great! Let me use your stove.”

They trek upstairs, with Hange making them each a plate of sunny side ups and breakfast sausages better than what Levi could ever hope to cook in his life. He has to remind himself that Hange makes things for a living, whether it be lime margaritas or perfectly toasted bread. But maybe this is just her excuse for getting him to eat something other than calorie-filled and sodium-infested frozen dinners. He's grateful for that.

While Hange fries pans on his stove, all Levi does during this time is turn on the instant coffee maker.

It’s too late by the time Hange notices the red lobster sitting on his dining table as they leave his room, but she doesn’t say anything even though Levi knows she's probably going to file it away as blackmail for later. He wishes he put the damn thing away earlier.

“So, where were we?” Hange says now that they’re back downstairs at the counter with plates of food and hot coffee. Levi’d insisted that they eat down here so in case Eren comes by, he’s going to kick her out immediately and she can take the plate of food with her. She doesn’t question the chair that Levi just happened to have, either – the one that Eren usually sits in.

“Yesterday,” Levi says through a forkful of eggs. “It was not a date.”

“Oh, it was a date.”

Yeah, it was. He doesn’t know why he even bothers to say otherwise.

“Nothing happened,” he tries again like that’ll convince her.

But Hange silences him with a shake of her head. “Shit definitely happened, and I want to know every bit of it.”

“Do I even get a say in this?”

“You do.” Hange takes a large gulp of her scalding coffee. “You get to decide whether you want to tell me now or later.”

Levi really does roll his eyes. “Do you know of such a thing called respecting people’s private lives?”

“No. I’m only curious, that’s all.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

“And satisfaction brought it back!”

There’s suddenly another modest knocking at the door, and Levi almost has the mind to say, _alright bye Hange get out._ He doesn’t, not yet at least.

Levi gets up, doing the usual pat down of hair and clothes, just in case any stray pieces of food have gotten on them and he thinks he hears a noise from Hange behind him, like a snigger or something, but effectively ignores it for the sake of his mental state.

It’s still way too early for Eren to come, but maybe he couldn’t sleep much either and was way too excited to come and—

He opens the door and it’s not Eren.

“Good morning, Levi. Just dropping by,” a pleasant voice says very pleasantly.

Levi lets go of the door again to go back inside with a gruff, “What the hell are you doing here, Erwin?”

“Just dropping by.”

“You said that already.”

Despite wearing shorts and sandals he still looks business-casual, somehow. It’s his usual Sunday best with zero effort put in it. Yet, there’s something subtle about the firm curvature of the shoes and the smooth material of the shorts that says brand name and expensive despite Levi not knowing what brand it is nor how expensive it could be. And that’s a thing about Erwin that severely irritates Levi. Among other things.

It reminds him of that time in high school when they first met.

Erwin had come up to him looking swank and intimidating like some suave rich boy asshole, and Levi had thought Erwin, being one of _those_ types, was going to ask him to get out of his way in the hall or something. Really, all he did was ask Levi if he could borrow five bucks because he wanted one of those sour berry juices from the vending machine and he’d left his wallet in his locker. Levi might have told Erwin to fuck off if it weren’t for the two teachers conversing close by, one of them especially who had been eyeing him like a hawk since the beginning of the school year, probably thinking he was some sort of thug.

Consequently, Erwin had ended up paying Levi back the borrowed amount four times over the next day because the wallet in his locker was actually a fat fucking wallet and Levi had found out that Erwin was a rich boy masked by a happy-go-lucky attitude and lame hair.

“Hey, Erwin,” Hange greets him, slurping up an entire egg. “There’s breakfast upstairs if you want some. Come and eat with us. You don’t mind, right, Levi?”

“Whatever.”

“Thanks, guys." Erwin claps a hand on Hange's shoulder. "It's been a while since we've all been here like this. Levi, don't look at me like that, I know you miss us together. It's been busy, but I'll try to make more time.”

"Just get your food, old man," Levi tells him.

"We're the same age, Levi."

Erwin still manoeuvres his way over to the stairs and goes up by himself since he knows the place like he hasn't already been here a million times.

Once he’s gone, Levi leans carefully over the counter towards Hange’s innocently benevolent face. “You didn’t plan this, did you?” he snarls at her, and she only shrugs in return.

“No. Plan what?”

“This…” Levi huffs submissively. “This ganging up on me to talk about this.”

“No, of course not,” she says in that voice that means she totally did. “We would never do that.” Yes, she totally would.

“You didn’t tell him, did you?” Levi mutters so Erwin won’t hear upstairs.

“About what?”

“About Eren.”

Hange leans back, like she’s really thinking about it. “Weeelll…”

“What is there to think about?” Levi hisses through his teeth, stabbing harder than necessary at the yolk of his egg. “Either you did or you didn’t. Which is it, Hange, you traitorous—”

“This is good,” Erwin calls out muffled, coming down the stairs, and Levi shuts up. “Levi, did you make this? I’m a little impressed, I’ve gotta say.”

“I didn’t. I'd probably burn the place down if I did.”

“I made it,” Hange pipes up, and Levi sends her a glare that she doesn’t see.

He only groans when Erwin puts his own plate and cup of coffee down on the counter beside theirs while he stands, and this is so stupid. It’s like they’re all having some sort of god awful tea party that these two voluntarily invited themselves to.

Erwin just gives Hange a gracious nod. “Ah, well. Good cooking anyhow, Hange. So, what’d I miss?” He suddenly catches his eye on the Dyson fan beside his plate, eyeing it a bit, before adding a rather inquisitive, “Nice fan.”

“Thanks,” Levi mumbles.

“You’re just in time, actually!” Hange says over them, waving the sausage on her fork in front of Erwin’s face to get his attention. “Levi was just about to share with me all the details about his wonderful date yesterday.”

“Oh, good.” Erwin pops an egg into his mouth, chewing acutely, and then swallows before regarding Levi with what seems like genuine curiosity. “How was your date with Eren?” he asks mildly.

At that, Levi suddenly flares up with the force of a thousand suns and twice as many betrayals. “You told him, Hange!” he practically shouts as she raises her hands up in defense. His screaming is less of an accusation now though, and more of a last declaration of defeat.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, Levi.” Hange doesn’t look sorry in the least. “You can slap me in the face if you want.”

“I’m not going to slap you in the face.”

“Oh, you're too good to me.” She crosses her legs on the chair and continues shoveling sausage into her mouth, ignoring Levi again because any threat he’d make towards her would no doubt be like that of a kitten trying to rough up the bark of an oak tree with its measly claws. Levi knows at least that much.

“What else did you tell him?” Levi snarls like Erwin’s not even there, not absentmindedly cutting his sausage into little pieces with a dainty butter knife.

“Nothing else!” Hange swears. "Just his name, his gender, his frequent visits, and boy are they _frequent_... sorry if we're actually really excited about this for once! Levi! This is so good for you, you don't even realize it. Erwin agrees with me."

"I definitely agree." Erwin swishes the coffee around in his mug like it's high class wine. "You know we can't help worrying about you if only just a little. I gave you this place so you'd have something to do, but you never give yourself any free time or time to yourself. Go out a little. Do things that make you happy. Being with someone shouldn't be so bad, right?"

Levi rubs at his eyes again, thinking way back when that he should have just taken his chances with the hawk-eyed teacher and told Erwin to fuck off after all. What’s a week of detention compared to a life of this torture? He would never have been offered to work this convenience store, given to him from the good charity of Erwin’s heart, and ending up homeless and penniless on the street doesn’t sound so bad anymore.

But then he thinks about never getting the chance to meet Eren because of working here, and he takes it all back.

“If you guys really want to know, the date went fine,” Levi finally begins to explain, picking away at the eggs and the broken yolk on his plate. “We went to the park on the boulevard so it was the usual. It was fun.” He’s a good kid, and Levi kind of wants to kiss him. That’s all.

The two of them look at Levi expectantly, waiting for him to grace their lives with some actual excitement, or at least with the knowledge of some excitement in Levi’s life for once. They’re never going to be satisfied. Is it too early to ask Hange to make him something from her bar?

“Were the lines long?” Erwin brings up with an innocuous sip of his drink.

“Not really,” Levi confesses, remembering Eren’s little show stopping stunt but figures they won’t ask much about it anyway. Erwin still gives him a slight look of disbelief.

“Did you offer to pay? Or did he pay?” Hange asks urgently after, like this is somehow of more extreme importance.

“He… he paid.”

Eren paid for literally everything, Levi realizes with a start. The ride costs, the water, the doughnuts… in fact, he had actually ended up giving Levi more money than what he’d started the day with because of the large bill he’d given Levi to pay for their food, and Levi had never actually paid him back. Well, shit.

There’s no way he can tell Hange and Erwin that Eren essentially has his free hand at any amount of money he could ever possibly want. They would never approve.

Well, Hange maybe. She did say something before about illegal things going down in this spot where his convenience store is now, but that’s some shit Levi would voluntarily pay her out of his crying bank account not to tell him about.

It’s dubious if Erwin and his long-running background of legitimately-earned wealth would straight up lecture him on the importance of ethics and morals, or if he would only bat an eyelash because Erwin can be surprisingly accepting of some weird shit. Maybe his bank account is even amongst the ones Eren’s been sneaking portions of change out of, amounts too small Erwin would never even notice is gone. The chances of that are miniscule, but this is all still completely illegal and, god, Levi’s head is hurting again.

“Aw, how sweet,” Hange sings, snapping Levi out of his thoughts with her grossly sugary tone. “Is he loaded?”

“No!” Levi blurts out way too fast. Suddenly, he feels like scum for lying to them.

“Is he attractive?” Erwin asks.

These questions are starting to tire. “Oh, gee, I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Hange?” Levi says irritably, throwing her a look.

Hange just nods furiously. “Definitely. He’s cute attractive,” she confirms. She and Eren had probably chatted for like ten seconds total, so her confirmation is likely to be heavily biased by her pure need for Levi to _get some_.

Erwin somehow seems satisfied with her answer though, and his completely unnecessary interest in another guy’s looks just screams home wrecker.

“Oh? How old is he?” Erwin continues his streak of asking all the questions Levi really would rather not have to answer.

“He’s…”

Levi takes abysmally long to answer that, maybe even leaving enough empty space for Hange to reply for him in case she wants to, seeing as she already knows.

She doesn’t. She wants to torture him with having him say it himself.

“He’s twenty,” Levi concedes.

The silence stretches on as the social stigma of being nine goddamn years apart starts to coagulate.

“That’s nice,” Erwin finally says, and Levi can’t help the slight slacking of his jaw. Although, when Erwin notices this he only shrugs. “What do you want me to say? I’m not going to criticize your choices of who you want to go out with on the basis of a mere nine-year age difference. Levi, you've been hit on by thirty year olds since we were in high school.”

"And that was disgusting."

"Sometimes, I thought you might give in one of these days."

"Are you calling me a slut?"

"There's nothing wrong with being a slut."

Levi frowns. “I thought you were like the _no-sex-before-marriage_ type or something.”

“I’m not religious, Levi.”

“Does that make a difference?”

This is one of those surprising acceptances that Levi had not known Erwin would be magically and perfectly okay with. Although, he figures there was a reason Erwin would be sitting here having breakfast on a Sunday morning instead of going to service were he to actually be religious. Levi had never really thought too hard about it before.

Erwin just laughs, and Hange brings their attention back on her again by saying, “Hey, hey! Now is not the time to be talking about whether god is watching over us. I want to know if you guys, you know, _did anything_.”

“ _Ugh_.”

“First base?”

“No.”

“Second?”

“If we didn’t get to first base, what the hell makes you think we made it to second?” Levi is almost spitting at this point.

Hange scrapes her plate clean by the time she’s throwing down her fork and practically shakes Levi back and forth by his shoulders. “I just want to know something happened! Please tell me something did! I’ll stop bothering you if at least one good thing happened between you guys. A kiss on the lips? Kiss on the cheek? A little frolicking on the beach?”

“Fucking fine!”

She lets go of him, and both Erwin and Hange are all ears, leaning forward slightly. This really is a goddamn gossiping tea party.

“We confessed, I guess. I told him I liked him, and he told me he liked me. That’s all, that’s it. Can we please get back to eating like we’re normal people now? Jesus.”

They're about to scream, Levi can tell.

But of course, things are not always that easy. Because the party stops as right then, right at that very moment, the door decides to open again and with a jingling of the bell in comes, yes, it is Eren.

“Hey…” Eren starts to say and then slows down upon noticing the plates of food on the counter and the fact that three people are now all staring simultaneously at him like he’s a monkey in a zoo doing magic tricks. Levi has got a full blown headache now.

“Morning, Eren,” Hange is the first to speak, sounding chipper as always.

“Hi, Hange,” Eren says tentatively back, unsure of what to do next. He grasps nervously at the shoulder strap of his laptop bag.

Levi can already see the dawning of realization on Erwin’s face, and that annoying flashing glint in his eye definitely doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Hello, Eren.” Erwin actually steps forward to greet him, extending out a large hand for him to shake. “I’m Erwin Smith, Levi’s neighbour and long time friend. He’s told us great things about you.”

Levi wants to smack a hand to his face. Erwin’s not supposed to mention shit like that to new people. What the hell is he thinking?

His formality, his looks, and his impeccable expensive wear definitely contribute to the fact that Eren looks intimidated beyond belief as he takes Erwin’s hand. “About me?” he repeats.

“All good things, of course,” Erwin assures him with a good-natured smile.

“Shut up,” Levi says, almost wanting to reach up and pull Erwin back and away from Eren. “If you want me to tell them to leave, I will. I don’t want them here, either,” he says to Eren, who gives him a worried stare.

“I’m saddened, Levi.” Hange gathers up her plate to stand up. “I wanted to hear more about you two, but if you want us out of here and out of your hair so you can have some alone time together, that’s totally fine by me.”

“That’s not it!” Levi growls, but not too harshly in case Eren gets offended.

He looks over and Erwin has that stupid calculating glint in his eye, still. “Yes, I agree with Hange. We’ve got some things to do, so – Eren, it was nice meeting you.”

"You, too..."

Erwin stacks his clean plate and cutlery on top of Hange’s on the counter before he gives Eren a quick salute, and pushes himself and Hange past Eren and out the door.

“Bye! You guys are cute, I love you two!” Hange calls one last time before the door slams closed fully. They’re heard walking off somewhere, probably Hange’s bar, giggling maniacally.

The jingling of the door bell eventually stops to caress them both with an awkward silence. This is not how Levi intended this all to play out.

“Uh, well.” Eren looks a little bit pink as he attempts to shuffle himself over to the counter. “They seemed nice.”

“Yeah,” Levi says half-heartedly. “They left all their shit here for me to clean up. How nice of them.”

He puts his plate on top of the pile, about to take it upstairs, when he notices Eren still standing and not moving in front of the counter. Looking up, he realizes Eren is gazing at him with a tender look and soft eyes that make Levi stop in his tracks.

“So, they know?” _About us_ , he says by extension.

Levi is feeling a mixing of emotions in his chest, unsure how to deal with them when Eren asks him this. It’s not shame he’s feeling, far from it. Rather, to answer Eren now would feel like confessing all over again, and maybe Eren had wanted to keep this a sort of secret? Eren probably hadn’t even told his own friends this fast. But the way Levi can feel Eren’s eyes on him, trying to look reassuring that he means nothing bad by his asking, there’s no way Levi can say anything but the truth.

“Yeah,” he admits. Not like it wasn’t obvious enough, anyway.

And Eren seems to let out something of a heartfelt sigh. “That’s okay, then.”

“Yeah…”

Levi’s about to leave again when Eren lets out another hurried sound of, “Wait, uh.”

So, he does.

“Hi. Levi…” Eren says statically, looking like he’s floating on clouds after he does before he’s physically turning his body away from Levi. “Sorry! You can ignore that. Shit, I-I just wanted to say that directly to you. After that whole - all that happened. It was - yeah.”

He's looking embarrassed from rambling, but Levi’s heart seizes up, and he grips at the plates so hard he’s surprised they’re not cracking under the pressure.

“Hey… Eren,” Levi tries to say back. Why, _why_ is it so hard to say this now? Does Eren do this on purpose to him? Can he stop being so cute? Is that even possible?

Eren wavers a smile before sitting down in the seat Hange left, and Levi practically runs upstairs before Eren’s ass touches the seat, calling behind him that he’ll be right back because he wasn’t ready for this and he needs to get himself back together. Levi leaves out that last part to Eren, though.

Taking out some frustration on cleaning the plates in the sink has never felt better, and Levi doesn’t really pay any attention to how long he’s taking and leaving Eren alone downstairs. He’s probably being completely rude. He didn’t even offer Eren any breakfast. God, he’s becoming a worse and worse host every day. It’s like he’s only suddenly aware of this now.

Levi comes back downstairs, patting down his hair and smoothing out the wrinkles on his unraveled sleeves even though it’s useless by now. He’s already done it three times in the last three hours.

Eren is back on his computer like usual, and Levi manages to breathe a sigh of relief at the usual normalcy of it all.

He sits back down behind the counter. “Did you have breakfast yet?” he asks Eren.

Eren still focuses his gaze on the laptop. “Sort of. I last ate around four.”

“Four AM?”

“Yeah.”

Levi grimaces. “What time did you wake up?” He tries to say that with as little condoning to his tone as possible to try not to sound like a nagging parent, even if he can’t help worrying a bit. Even if Eren’s a grown ass adult who can make his own decisions.

But Eren just makes a bit of a humming noise before replying lightly, “I didn’t sleep.”

Levi frowns even more. “You didn’t?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

Eren shrugs, smiling a bit, and Levi can’t tell if Eren’s internally laughing at him or if he’s laughing at something on his computer. “Couldn’t,” is all Eren answers with.

Although he says nothing more, Levi can’t help but roll his eyes as he tries not let this information get to his head. Eren couldn’t sleep, so what? He might not have been able to sleep for a multitude of reasons. It might not have necessarily been because of what happened yesterday – thinking too much about the confession, ending up fraying his nerves with excitement like Levi almost had…

Levi ends up closing his mouth because the just barely discernible red that tinges Eren’s cheeks and the rather obstinate averting of his eyes to stare penetratingly at his computer screen instead of at him says that this is exactly the reason why Eren couldn’t sleep.

So Levi only sighs, getting up once again and Eren’s gaze follows him do so.

“I’ll get you a cup of coffee, kid,” Levi tells him and enjoys the all-out burn that Eren’s face succumbs to, as if knowing that Levi’s caught on to him.

“Thanks…” Eren bites his lip, and Levi thinks to himself that he could really get used to this.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **CH1: Run program** \- perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions _(the beginning)_  
>  **CH2: README.txt** \- instructions _(eren explains shit)_  
>  **CH3: Configuration** \- an arrangement of units according to their chief characteristics _(accepting eren's shit)_  
>  **CH4: Hardware** \- collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer system _(eating food to nourish their bodies)_  
>  **CH5: Sleep mode** \- low power mode for electronic devices _(waking up only half-functional)_  
>  **CH6: Resume** \- return to working state _(continuation of waking up)_  
>  **CH7: FAQ** \- frequently asked questions _(advice sort of from hange)_  
>  **CH8: C:\Program Files\Games** \- folder typically holding game programs _(amusement park date)_  
>  **CH9: Decode** \- the conversion of digital information into language _(eren confesses)_  
>  **CH10: Encode** \- the conversion of language into digital information _(levi confesses)_
> 
> ok i hope that wasn't too convoluted. i did have reasons for each of the chapter names lol this is just for your enjoyment. and i'm going to put the definition in the chapter summaries from now on. man how many chapters long is this thing going to be...


	12. Social network

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **social networks** \- a social structure determined by relationships between individuals, groups, etc. _(meet the friends part 2)_

Eren has his coffee and Levi has tea, choosing against taking in more caffeine than necessary because Levi doesn’t need his heart to beat in an anxiety-induced, over thinking mess any more than it already seems to be in lately. It’s calm right now though, somewhat calm.

Eren had said thanks, and Levi is left unbothered.

It’s almost like their time together in and of itself is left unbothered, and Levi isn’t sure what he thought he was expecting. Surely, he isn’t going to stop running his store the way he was before and Eren isn’t going to stop doing his whatever thing on the computer.

It’s sort of a pain to call it “hacking” now. The word feels almost childish, and Levi has learned like the apparently old man he is with this crap not to dive in too deeply. Or more like Eren has been subtly (loudly) influencing him every time Levi dares to ask about something and Eren will haughtily correct him, saying things like “it’s for your own benefit” and “consider it a valuable life lesson”. And more and more, Levi is starting to think this “life lesson” would have absolutely no point to it unless Eren decides to stick around for that long.

Did he actually think there would be such a drastic change to their relationship after they’d had a gross romcom scene on a beach and awkwardly hugged like two giant snow crabs pressed together? He’s not one to feel hypocrisy, but somehow he finds himself wishing that perhaps Eren would talk more… about… them. About couple type things. Perhaps Eren would offer to do more couple type things—

Levi inhales his tea and begins to choke. Violently.

His mind is swimming and he’s not sure if it’s entirely because there’s tea in his lungs or if he’s actually going blank with the fear of Eren possibly reading his mind and knowing about things he _definitely_ should _not_ know Levi wants to do to him. For him. With him. _Goddammit_. Instead, Eren’s only looking up concernedly once Levi is setting his tea down already half-spilled onto the counter as he continues doubling over trying to breathe.

“Are you okay?” Eren exclaims, and Levi can feel him pound a hand repeatedly on his back.

Before he can recollect himself properly or even hack out a “yeah” or “thanks” or “I’m not dying, probably”, he’s looking up and all the breath whooshes out of his lungs once he realizes Eren is blinking at him. From approximately 2.2 centimetres away.

Levi hiccups and almost brushes noses with Eren.

Eren is suddenly standing up to which Levi is only partially grateful for and then running off calling back, “I’ll get you some water.”

Levi wheezes, “I don’t need any more liquid in me.” But it’s likely Eren can’t hear him now since he’s probably halfway across the shop, Levi’s not even sure exactly where. There are things like CPR crossing his mind now and, for fuck’s sake, this is the kind of shit that got him choking in the first place.

“Here.” Eren comes back, handing him an uncapped water bottle, and once Levi is sure all the tea has dislodged from his throat he takes careful sips of water from the bottle.

“Thanks,” he mutters, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand as he braces himself on the counter and breathes hollowly. He’s sure his face is looking really red right now. “Sorry.”

Eren looks about ready to laugh. “What are you saying sorry for? Sorry for choking?”

More like sorry for thinking about weird things. Sorry for thinking about CPR and kissing and—

Levi doesn’t know what to say.

“Sorry for…” Levi looks at the bottle in his hands. “Wait, where did you get this?”

“From the fridges,” Eren answers simply.

Levi stares at him hard, but he doesn’t flinch. “You took this from stock.”

Eren stares back blankly, seeming to contemplate that longer than should be necessary. It’s a simple question requiring a simple yes or no answer and using very simple deductive reasoning. They’ve been over this before. “Yeah, I guess so,” Eren replies like he doesn’t remember at all that they’ve actually been through this before. Unbelievable. Levi seems to forget all about the fact that he was choking.

“You can’t just _take_ things from stock,” Levi says, mentally deducting $2.50 from inventory. This whole thing manages to completely subvert any positive things he was previously thinking about Eren. In fact, he’s willing to favour a two dollar water bottle than this stupid child in front of him. Two dollars is like a whole meal lost.

Eren’s got that piercing look in his eyes again, though. “You were _dying,_ ” he says. And for a moment, Levi feels bad because Eren sounds genuinely worried about him.

“I wasn’t dying. I was choking.” And then he adds for good measure, “There’s a difference.”

“Choking leads to dying.” Eren insists on fighting this battle as long as he can, apparently.

Levi lets out an exasperated noise. He should really clean up the spilled tea on his counter now before it starts attracting insects and other nasty things. He reaches underneath for a paper towel. “You really couldn’t have gone to the bathroom and gotten me tap water or something?”

Eren frowns before giving Levi a pointed look. “Of all people, I didn’t think you would be the one to actually recommend the filth that is tap water.”

“I’m not that neurotic.” Levi rolls his eyes. Although, it does pull something in his chest the fact that Eren actually remembers something like this about him. It’s stupid, he knows. “Also, it’s hygienic. I pay for clean water.”

“You do?”

“Yes.”

Amazingly, Eren manages to lean back in his chair and look rather enlightened. “Huh. I assumed all tap water was unhygienic.”

Levi wonders where the hell Eren used to live before this. Or where he _seems_ to live now whenever he's not actually here.

“Do you think I would live in a fucking dump with disgustingly unsanitary running water? You know, this whole place was on the verge of being eaten alive by maggots when I got it. It may look shitty to you right now, but it only looks as good as it does because I spent weeks cleaning the garbage out of this piss palace, and then paid extra to fix water damage, wall repairs, and for a filtered water system. It’s a wonder I didn’t just burn the place down to the fucking ground and rebuild it from scratch. Wouldn’t have had to see firsthand all the dirt those previous owners left behind while they played with their dicks in here.”

Levi’s not sure but he thinks Eren’s had that eyebrow raised for the entire duration of his rant.

“Now you know,” Levi says. Eren’s eyebrows don’t move. Still judging. “I’m not that neurotic,” he repeats to no effect.

“Wow, alright then,” Eren says mildly, holding his chin up with his elbow on the counter, and leaning slightly forward. He curves his lip and sighs deliberately. “I guess I could have gotten you that tap water after all. Oh well.”

Levi suddenly wants to throttle him. “You shit.”

Eren is laughing before stealing a gulp from the half-full water bottle.

-

It’s midday by the time Levi is taking their empty cups back upstairs to the sink, and then coming back down to notice movement through the glass of the front door.

It’s Hange. She peeks in, sees Eren still sitting with his laptop on his lap, and then promptly runs away, snickering presumably to Erwin somewhere he can’t see. These fucking bastards.

He sits down with a huff, wondering why they have to make this out to be like some kind of elementary school game. Are they nearing thirty years old or a bunch of schoolchildren? It still makes him feel hot under the collar despite it all.

“So, your friends seem nice.”

Levi looks up to see Eren staring out towards the front door and then quizzically back at Levi.

“Oh, you saw them?” Great, just great.

“Well, they’ve sort of been doing that all day,” Eren says, shifting a little in his seat.

Levi is slightly appalled at this new information. “Seriously?”

“Yeah? You didn’t notice?”

Levi looks dubiously off to the side. Truth be told all he noticed today was the fact that Eren’s hair looks a little less messy, a little less haywire. Maybe he took the time to actually run a comb through it or something.

It’s times like now that Levi finds himself needing yet another cup of tea to sate himself. “No, I didn’t,” he replies. “These asshats live on either side of me and they barge in whenever they feel like it. Now they're putting me on edge.”

Eren laughs. “Oh, I can tell you like them.”

There’s not a good response to something like that other than saying, “Shut the fuck up.”

“You do!”

“I—!” _don’t like them_ , he’s about to say but then gets cut off when Eren slouches his arms onto the counter, tilting his head to the side on top of them as he grins at him trying not to laugh. It’s so cute it’s obscene, and Levi feels somehow offended.

_I like you._

All Levi can manage to do then is cover his face, trying to look like it’s in shame (which it partly is), as his heart flip flops all over the place. He needs a break. He needs some water. But not from the water bottle that Eren’s lips touched…

“Do you want to see my friends?” Eren asks. He leans back up, typing something into the laptop.

Levi is still trying to reign his mind back in by the time he blurts out, “Sure.” Because maybe seeing a picture of Eren’s friends will be a nice distraction.

“Okay, hold on.”

He types some more things into the computer while Levi waits. He vaguely remembers Eren saying his friends are also hackers of some sort, and they’re in this self-organized blowing-up-people’s-computers thing they’ve got going on. They also apparently helped him make that apple pie they shared a few weeks ago. Must be close friends, Levi thinks.

“Okay!” Eren declares, hauling his laptop onto the counter, facing it towards Levi. “Meet Armin and Mikasa.”

He leans into it, squinting. There is a picture of two people sitting together, one guy and one girl. They both look young and serious, like they could be in a sci-fi action movie. The guy looks like the type to be the brains behind the operation while the girl looks like she’d be the one crawling through vents and stealing top secret documents. They seem like okay people in Levis mind. Wait, he’s not sure if he can trust his eyes but it feels like they’re both moving somehow…

“Armin and Mikasa, meet Levi!” Eren says.

Levi looks up. “Wait, what.”

“Hi!” the boy says, sounding static-y through the computer speakers. “I’m Armin.”

“He looks kind of small. Even on screen.”

“Mikasa! Don’t be rude.”

“Sorry. Hi.”

Levi is all kinds of freaked out. “They can see me?” he asks, more like demands Eren.

“Yeah! We’re on a video chat,” he replies, standing up to go around the counter to stand beside Levi. He waves at his friends on the computer who wave back.

“What the hell is that? I thought you were just showing me a picture,” Levi says, flabbergasted, but the two on the computer can apparently hear him because Armin starts laughing. Mikasa stays quiet.

“We heard you were slow with technology but not this slow,” Mikasa deadpans, sounding unimpressed. Levi ignores that jab at himself in favour of thinking about Eren talking about him to his friends. Eren talks about him, huh? No, shut up shut up. What the hell is going on here.

Armin pipes up, “Eren, maybe you should have told him we were going to be on video chat?”

“Uhhh ahaha, maybe?” Eren scratches innocently the back of his head. Levi gives him a look.

“Again, can someone please fill me in on what the _hell_ a video chat is?” Levi asks to anyone who would answer him this time. He can sort of already guess it seems to be like a phone call mixed with TV. He knew he shouldn’t have signed up for this meet-the-friends bullshit. These hackers have way too much time on their hands to come up with something like this.

“It’s like a phone call but you can hear and see the person you’re talking to,” Eren explains. Conveniently, it’s almost the same analogy Levi used in his head. “Happening in real time.”

It’s only now that Levi notices the small square in the corner of the screen indicating the view of the camera pointed at him. He remembers leaning in really closely to squint at the screen and how stupid he must have looked. “I wish you could have told me that earlier so I could be ready,” Levi huffs, folding his arms and making sure to keep quite a distance back.

“What do you need to be ready for?” Eren says.

“Oh, I don’t know. So I don’t accidentally make a fool of myself in front of your friends?”

“You’re doing fine. They like you, don’t worry.”

“What the fuck ever, Eren.”

Armin continues laughing on the other side, gasping out between breaths, “You two are great.”

“I still don’t get why he hangs out with Eren so much if all they do is argue,” Mikasa says to him.

“You two also argue a lot, you know,” Armin tells her.

Levi is rolling his eyes by now. “Hey, are we actually going to talk to each other or are we just going to talk to ourselves? I am not seeing the point of any of this video chat shit.”

Everyone quiets down momentarily until Mikasa leans over to Armin and mutters, “He swears a lot, too.”

“That’s it, I’m leaving.”

“Nooo, Levi! Wait. Sit.” Eren has his hands on Levi’s shoulders as he’s getting up to push him back down. “I—uhh. This would actually be a good time to… tell them.”

Eren goes visibly pink a bit as the air stills around them.

Mikasa is standing up and practically ready to pounce through the screen. “Tell us what?”

“Yes, tell them what?” Levi is pleading Eren with his eyes not to do what he thinks he’s going to do. Or if he does, to please let him out of here because he doesn’t want to be in the vicinity while Eren proclaims to his friends exactly what Levi proclaimed to his own just a few hours ago.

Eren looks to Levi, gets even pinker, and seems to plead with his own eyes that he wants to do this. He’s going to do it. There’s no stopping him now. He needs to get his hands off of Levi’s shoulders so he can run away, but instead he’s trapped here between Eren’s cage-like fingers and the anticipating/judgmental looks of his friends.

“I,” Eren starts, taking a deep breath, and Levi swears he can hear the Earth stop spinning. “I like him. And he told me he likes me. So we’re, sort of, dating. Now.”

Let him out. Levi needs to get out or he’s going to explode. It’s different from earlier when Levi declared it to Hange and Erwin because at least Eren wasn’t there. Now Eren is here, behind him, touching him, and Levi can’t look at the computer properly.

“Are you serious?” comes Mikasa’s voice. “How long have you known him for?”

“I’m so happy for you guys!” Armin says. “Mikasa, they’ve known each other for weeks. Eren uses his wifi.”

“Oh, god.”

“No, we—!” Eren suddenly becomes flustered, taking his hands off Levi. “We’re just… we’re just starting out. S-So, I’ll still be doing our hacking thing. And Levi will be running his store, so…”

Levi gets up. “I need a drink. Mind the store.”

He goes around the counter, leaving Eren and the laptop, as he hears Armin at the very least offer up a “It was nice meeting you!”

Levi’s not intending to drink something of alcoholic nature, not unless he plans to walk over to Hange’s for something, but right now he wouldn’t risk his life in there. Who knows the shit they’d bombard him with once they catch a glimpse of his face. It’s probably red as hell, he can feel it.

Instead, he goes upstairs to pour himself yet another cup of tea. He wonders how he’s going to even make it to old age if he’s going to keep feeling like this on a daily basis.

He goes back down after about fifteen minutes to find Eren sitting on the outside of the counter again. There isn’t any more talking so he figures the video chat has ended.

“Finished talking?” Levi asks just to make sure.

“Yeah.” Eren at least looks like he’s recovered from earlier. He no longer looks red. Levi wonders what else they were talking about while he was gone. Must have been stuff about him. The conversation couldn’t have deviated that far.

“Any customers?”

“No.” Eren sniffs and then asks again without missing a beat. “Why is it you hardly have any customers?”

Levi shrugs, going to sit back down behind the counter. “I don’t know. This place sucks.”

Eren chuckles a little.

“Your friends seem nice,” Levi brings up.

“Oh? They do now, don’t they?”

“Well, that Mikasa chick seems wary of me.” Levi can’t help but think he’d do the same, though, if he was in a position of judging himself.

“She’s just concerned, I guess,” Eren says. “Always has been of us. Looking out for us, getting us out of trouble, she’s good at that. I’m sure she’ll warm up to you once she gets to know you. And Armin is a good judge of character, so he seemed to approve.”

“Oh, ha ha. That’s very funny.”

“I’m serious! You’re a good guy, and he could probably tell that you’re trustworthy. Not gonna out us or anything, or hurt me. I guess.”

Levi stares at him as he fiddles on the computer again. He’s suddenly reminded of the way he so elegantly handled the situation on the Ferris wheel at the park and then on the beach. How he’d unintentionally hurt Eren’s feelings because he was assuming and ignorant and didn’t want things to progress lest it all fall apart and their relationship suffered. He’d assumed Eren was like the computer he typed on, running without problem as long as he doesn’t do anything rash to it. But Eren is not like a computer, not at all. He has feelings and responds with laughter and Levi  would do anything to keep that smile on his face. So, instead of running away he tries to rev himself up for what he’s about to say next.

“So, we’re dating,” he states.

Eren seems to hiccup or something but doesn’t stutter. “Yeah? Isn’t that natural after we confessed?”

“Hm.” Levi figured, but it’s precisely what’s been bothering him this whole time. “I mean like, we should be going on… more dates. And stuff.” Even though they literally just went out to the park on the boulevard yesterday.

Eren is staring questionably back at him. “…Yeah? I mean, not every day. But, like, once every so often would be okay with me…”

“We should go out.”

“H-Huh??”

“To the park,” Levi just starts to word vomit by now. “Or… shopping.”

“O-Okay?”

“Yeah.” He swears this went better in his head. “Whenever you want.”

And it’s like there’s some kind of realization dawning on Eren’s face just then. Slowly but surely he looks really happy, really legitimately happy, without even fully smiling or anything. But it makes Levi’s heart flutter for the millionth time that day.

“Thanks, Levi.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so! i literally just finished writing this chapter 5 mins ago without editing or going back or anything because iwanted to get this out to you guys quick! i know it's been sort of a while but as everyone always says, responsibilities and things get in the way! i still love this story and despite everything else, i've still got cute things planned in my head that i really want to write down for this story. like i've literally been thinking of them since like months ago when i first thought of them. so hopefully i will get to that hahaha!


	13. Logic Errors & Debugging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Logic error -** running without error but the result is not what you want _(relationship problems)_  
>  **Debugging -** getting rid of bugs _(fixing relationship problems)_

“School never appealed to me,” Eren muses as Levi writes down stock sheets trying to decide if he should eliminate a new shipment of Regular-flavoured chips because nobody seems to be buying those anymore. “I was good at it, yeah, but that’s exactly the reason why it seems useless to me. You gotta actually get out there and do things or nothing ever gets done.”

“How can you be good at school?” Levi asks absent-mindedly, tapping his pen against his chin.

Eren eats another chip from the bag he stole from earlier that Levi had no motivation to reprimand him for if it’s apparently not going to get sold anyway. “It’s like… there’s a certain way to do things that pretty much guarantees you good marks. School’s very fact-based, so memorize facts and regurgitate facts. Even English is fact-based. Fluff up your answers like you know what you’re talking about and they simply believe that you do. Teaching to the masses means that they become lazy and quick to judge because they have no time to focus too hard on you as an individual.”

“…Really.”

“Of course, you’ve got to have good intuition for how you go about it, too. Tests are created by teachers, which necessarily involve human nature as well as human error. Every teacher is different, but if you understand and adjust yourself to their schematic – how they form questions, what answers are clearly taken straight from the textbook and what are made up – by the end of the year they’re pretty much like putty in your hands.”

The way Eren thinks remains consistent with Levi’s first impressions of a computer. Systematic and runs on knowledge and knowing things. And yet, he’s also not like a computer in the sense that he can cheat the system, he can get inside the system’s head. Because (as Levi realizes just now) school isn’t about being smart, it’s about being clever. And Eren has already got cleverness down pat.

He’s amazing.

Levi’s since stopped counting stock for a while now. “Maybe you should have gotten a degree in deconstructing the education system so other stupider kids can benefit from your wisdom.”

Eren just smiles cheekily at that. “It’s okay. I’m good with just deconstructing internet and computer security so the general public can benefit. From my great wisdom too, of course.”

He still wishes Eren had gone through some type of post-secondary anyway. He’s still young, smart, and has the funds to do it. Even if those funds aren’t exactly legitimate. He could at least get a degree in computer science or computer engineering or _something_ so when this hacking business falls through, he can have something to fall back on.

Not that Levi’s saying it will or anything.

“Be right back, I need to go count some shit on the shelves.” Levi goes to get up.

“Okay.”

One thing’s for sure – Levi could never in a million years see himself in college.

“Hey, Levi?” Eren calls from his seat on the other side of the store. “Have you always wanted to own a convenience store?”

Levi puts back a can of beans on the shelf from where he picked it up. “The fuck? Who the hell dreams of owning a convenience store?”

“Just wondering.” There’s silence before Eren’s calling back out again, “So, if you didn’t have this place, what would you have done instead?”

Levi hums to himself.

He’s never really thought about it for a while since he’s never had the need. Considering he’s on the verge of bankruptcy though, maybe he should start thinking about it again. It’s unlikely Erwin would give him yet another store in his nation-wide ownership of chain convenience stores (that’s just a guess; Levi actually has no idea what Erwin does for a living even if he might have asked once or twice before but he can never remember what exactly it is).

Levi scours his mind. “I don’t know. Probably own a tea shop or something.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” He checks off some more things on his clipboard before coming back to the counter. Eren’s got a look of plain confusion on his face.

“It just seems… totally you and yet totally not like you,” Eren says cryptically.

“Listen, you gave me like ten seconds to answer. I haven’t exactly thought long and hard about it.” Eren’s still looking at him like he’s waiting for something, so Levi sighs and decides to appease him. “You want an explanation that I’m just going to make up on the spot?”

Eren nods viciously.

“Fine. I like tea. In fact, I love tea. I’ll drink hot tea in the middle of a damn heat wave in the summer, I don’t care. Although, I’d rather not be in customer service again because dealing with people sucks ass and I know that already, but what other job can I do where I’m surrounded by what I love?”

“Well, what if I’m there? Then you wouldn’t have to…”

Levi almost bites his own tongue. Eren already looks like he’s regretting what he’s saying in the middle of him saying it, sucking in a lip to chew at it.

“Uhhhh, sorry. Forget what I said. It was stupid… and presumptuous…”

Sometimes, Levi forgets that the person in front of him is the one he’s supposed to be going out with. Supposed to be his lover. And the fact that their conversations have kept up being so smooth and the same as always means that Levi often forgets that Eren is supposed to mean more than this. Be more than this. Do more than this. “I guess… if you’re here,” Levi swallows painfully, “…I could do anything, really.”

The spark in Eren’s eyes returns, even if he still looks a bit pink.

“Actually, I’ve sort of been thinking about something…” Eren trails off. He seems to get even pinker, the bangs of his hair falling into his eyes like he wants to hide behind them.

“What?” Levi presses.

“Uhmmm.” Eren’s voice gets higher in pitch as he looks quickly out towards the door and the windows, as if making sure that nobody’s about to come barging in. Or maybe he’s planning on running away before he can say whatever it is. “I’ve wanted to try… uh – if we could…”

He fiddles with his thumbs.

“Kiss.”

Levi’s brain short-circuits.

“Right here,” Levi deadpans, throat immediately drying up.

“Ahhh, yeah?” Eren scratches at the back of his head looking incredibly anxious. “Unless… it’s not the right moment, or you don’t want to. I understand. It’s just I’ve been – I kind of want to… so…”

Levi can only stare blankly at the counter.

“Just, if you don’t want to, it’s fine—”

“No, I do,” Levi cuts him off.

He’s been thinking about this too for a while, if he’s going to put it lightly. Of course he’s considered the idea and on more than one occasion might have fantasized about it. But now that it actually seems to be happening, Levi can’t believe that it is, can’t quite convince himself that it is indeed happening. It’s a natural step in their relationship. In fact, Levi’s only been waiting for this.

He really wants to kiss Eren. He does.

He feverishly looks towards the doors. What if someone comes in, though? He gets customers sometimes, on the rare occasion. What if Hange or Erwin comes in? They’ll tease him until the end of time if they see Levi macking in the middle of store hours. They have a knack for waltzing in when it’s least convenient, too. That shouldn’t matter if they do it quick.

But what if Levi’s bad at it? He can’t see himself hating it, but what if Eren does? It should be okay, right? His heart still seizes with fright at Eren never asking for this again.

Eren suddenly stands up, leaning himself over the counter, and Levi is suddenly stressed to the point of a possible heart attack. He still wants this, right? Just a peck should be okay. His pulse revs up and suddenly all he can focus on is Eren’s mouth, a deep colour and looking soft to the touch.

“Just close your eyes,” Eren tells him, so he does. He squeezes his eyes tightly together.

Levi sits there, feeling the moments tick by as Eren no doubt comes closer and closer. At some point he can feel Eren’s breath on him, ghosting over his lips and the warmth practically on top of him when their noses brush together.

And then Levi jerks back.

“Uh,” he says unintentionally.

Eren opens his eyes slowly when he makes that noise, staring at him.

“Sorry,” Levi stutters, cursing himself. “We can try again.”

He leans back in, fully ready to go again when he feels a hand on his shoulder pushing him back down and suddenly Levi’s body feels heavy and limp.

“It’s… okay.” Eren’s got a smile on his face, one that looks comforting but sad at the same time. “We don’t have to.”

“What? That’s not—”

“I can tell.” Eren looks at him seriously now like he’s about to explain to Levi what Levi doesn’t even know himself. “You’re not ready. You look distressed and a bit sweaty and not in a good way. Like you don’t want to be here, and that’s really the last thing I want you to feel like. We can do it anytime, yeah? So don’t force yourself for me, okay?”

He sits back down like this is no big deal, and the racing of Levi’s mind even begins to slow, his pulse relaxing. He feels stiff and stuffy and immensely disappointed in himself.

“Sorry, Eren.”

And all Levi can think is that he’s completely fucked this up.

-

“Thanks, come again.”

The bell overhead rings as the customer walks out with her meat-on-a-stick and various chocolate bars.

They haven’t attempted to talk about the kissing incident again. It’s something that Levi has no idea how to bring up even if he wanted to, and Eren doesn’t seem keen on doing the same. Maybe to Eren, it’s his way of making sure the moment for it is always right.

Except sometimes Levi would feel like he’s definitely fucked things up for good, and there’s this insane amount of guilt that wells up inside of him when he can’t think of a single way to fix any of this.

The only thing that seems to work is acting like normal, or rather act like nothing has happened at all since Eren will respond by acting the same way, and for a while now that’s what’s been good enough for Levi.

Right now when the front door slams to a close, Eren seems to have on that questioning look on his face that Levi’s been seeing more and more often of. “Somehow, I have the feeling like I’m being detrimental to business by sitting here in front of the counter. Blocking it and all. Even if I’m sort of sitting off to the side, but you know.”

Levi gives him a look, purposely raising his eyebrows like he’s mocking the fact that Eren seems to have only just thought of this now.

“You serious?” he says.

“I’m not saying your place is small!” Eren says hurriedly, although he’s not wrong. They both know that it is. “It’s quite nice, in fact. Very homey and roomy, even. There’s a reason why it caught my eye in the first place, although the outside I didn’t really think anything of it. Once I came in, well I also didn’t really think anything of it still… I was sort of just hoping that you wouldn’t kick me out like all the others did, and it’s usually not very often that I stay for this long—”

“Stop.” Levi rubs at his temples, pushing back his hair. “Get on with it,” Levi tells him.

Eren doesn’t seem offended, only recomposes himself. “What I’m saying is – do you ever find me… a nuisance?”

It’s Levi’s turn to stop now.

He has half a mind to think that he could just play this off like how they always do. Snort and sarcastically say _yes of course, aren’t you always?_ It honestly doesn’t bother Levi to the extent that it would a normal person –sitting and blocking about 50% of the counter. He really doesn’t mind it because it’s Eren, and it seems like he’s made this clear many times to him. They wouldn’t be in a relationship otherwise.

Is that even what they are anymore? In a relationship?

There’s just something about the way Eren’s beginning to mention more and more the lack of customers, the way he’s started shrinking himself in slightly whenever a customer comes to pay for something so that he takes up even less room on the chair than he usually does, and sometimes Levi even notices the way Eren stares at the Dyson fan on the counter now that it’s almost always turned off because the summer weather has cooled from the sweltering heat and is now into the mild period.

Aside from the kissing talk, it’s also been weeks since Levi last said they should go out again sometime. He’s been intending to keep that promise, but the stress of keeping his numbers in the black and not wanting to risk losing business makes him hesitant on doing absolutely anything out with Eren. Even a couple of hours of lost business nags at Levi’s mind.

And Eren has been nice enough about it, not mentioning it too much other than a few hints and prods, but never outright asking. He probably thinks it’s being too forward, he’s treading into waters he knows better now than to go. It’s not his place.

But even so, it seems like Eren is becoming restless.

Levi’s been neglecting him, even though he’s been right there in front of him, and Levi feels worse than horrible.

“No,” he says clearly, making sure to say this even if there’s a chance Eren’s just joking. “You’re not… fuck.”

He tries to breathe in so that he can find the right words to say. It’s hard when it seems like Eren has suddenly sat up straighter and started looking at him with probing eyes like he’s only just grasped what Levi’s been getting at.

“Sorry. Forget I said anything,” Eren blurts.

“No.” He hates when Eren does this most of all, tries to invalidate himself and his feelings just because he has to deal with Levi always getting frustrated at himself for not knowing the right things to say or do ever. “No,” Levi says again. “I’m doing it again, where I ignore you just because it’s convenient for me.”

“That’s not at all—”

“Shut up,” he says because he has no idea what else to say that would make Eren stop thinking like this. He shouldn’t be swearing at Eren, that’s the last thing he wants.

Eren actually closes his laptop to place his hands unsteadily on top of it before Levi can even get any more words out. “No, I’m… I’ve been asking for more than I should. I’ve been acting like I keep expecting something from you, that you owe me something when you don’t owe me anything at all. I guess I might be sort of used to getting immediate results, you know? Like after typing out some lines of code, just clicking run program and there it is.”

He laughs like this is all really funny and Levi doesn’t understand it, he really doesn’t – how anyone could be so patient with him. He remembers not so long ago of Eren saying that all he wanted was for Levi to like him back. That’s all he wanted.

Is it bad of Levi to think that’s all he wanted as well? That the both of them could just run on that mutual agreement and think that that was enough to sustain their relationship?

Of course it's not enough, and Levi can see it. He can see that Eren is miserable being cooped up in here, and frankly he is too. He feels like shit knowing that he’s the cause for Eren forcibly holding himself back, restraining what he wants and feels for the good of their relationship that only seems to be going absolutely nowhere.

“Eren, I’m sorry. I—”

“Don’t break up with me.”

Levi is completely caught off guard with that. His heart practically drops out his mouth. “What?”

“Don’t break up with me,” Eren repeats, eyes cast down.  “If that’s what you think I want, it’s not.”

He says it so quickly and yet so assuredly like he’s already familiar with the idea, and then Levi realizes for the second goddamn time in their entire history of knowing each other just how much Eren’s probably been suffering and mulling over the worst of possibilities, turning it over in his brain more times than Levi can count, while Levi’s just been sitting here and minding his own business.

Eren’s voice lowers, quivers a little. “We’ve just barely started out and…”

Levi gets up, unties the apron around his waist and pulls it over his head to fold neatly and place underneath the counter.

“…and I know you’re not good at this. I’m not exactly good at this, either. All I know is I want you to be happy, and lately I’m just not even sure what the best way to do that is…”

Levi locks the register, going around the counter to stand in front of Eren’s chair.

“And I feel like I’m just sort of here. Like you have to be way over there, while I’m here blocking stupid fucking customers, and I know this is just stupid.” Eren only just looks up at him, noticing him standing there.

“Put your laptop in your bag,” Levi orders.

“Where are we going?” Eren cries, letting himself and his laptop bag now slung over his shoulder be dragged out of the store as Levi turns over the ‘Closed’ sign on the door. But even so, Eren’s got that stupidly confused look on his face despite the fact that little slivers of hopefulness are creeping through it.

“Out,” Levi says. “And don’t ever say what you just said to me again.”

-

It’s still only late afternoon, but it’s warm and not unbearably so. The rainy season seems to have passed because that sticky after-storm feeling hasn’t stuck around for a while. It’s also been a while since Levi’s actually strolled down the neighbourhood like he’s a teenager again.

 “You didn’t have to do this,” Eren tries to tell him, still a bit tense but trying hard not to let a grim smile poke through.

“Shut up.”

“What about losing business?”

“It’s fine.” Honestly, he doesn’t want to think about that right now.

“Seriously, let’s go back, Levi. If we do, I’ll buy like three jugs of milk and your entire stock of Regular chips…”

“ _Shut up_.” Levi rubs frustratingly at his eyes, wishing he did not just tell Eren to shut up three times in the last ten minutes. “Eren, I want to do this. I need some fresh air because the store has been getting on my nerves and I… want you here with me. So, can you not fucking go anywhere?”

He balls his hands into tight fists and he can hear Eren sigh as they walk briskly. But when he peeks up out of the corner of his eyes, the grim smile threatening to spread across Eren’s lips seems to have broken through.

The trees and flowers are nicely in bloom, a comforting wind breezing by them. It was spontaneous to go out like this, Levi knows that much. But whatever. He can do what he wants. And right now, this is what he really really wants to do.

“Do you know what I’ve noticed?” Levi says. “You’re not five seven.”

“Hm?”

Levi noticed it before when they were walking side by side together. Even now, as Levi has to undoubtedly look up to look at Eren who only stares quizzically back at him. “You’re not five foot seven,” Levi proclaims. “You lied.”

Eren just looks amused. “Then what am I?”

“Taller than that.”

From what Levi can tell, Eren looks more like 5’10” or 5’11” even. He can barely reach up to Eren’s chin, for god’s sake.

“Well, I haven’t actually measured myself in a while,” Eren mentions thoughtfully, patting at the top of his head. “Not since we all measured our heights in math class.”

“And when was that?”

“Grade nine.”

Levi opens his mouth to say something but then closes it in favour of saying instead, “So, you were already five seven by the time you were fifteen, and then went on to grow some more? Fucking great.”

“Is that bad?”

“No.” Levi rolls his eyes. “I’ve just been stuck at five three since I was twelve. Wipe that smirk off your face right now, Eren.”

“Pff.” Eren can’t help laughing anyway, the sound pleasant and refreshing and especially reassuring to his ears.

They walk for about twenty minutes to the nearby park that Levi mentioned from before. By no means is it a great park – it’s just got some trees, open grass space, and a small playground that Levi remembers from his high school days.

When the backs of their hands happen to brush against each other, Levi contemplates taking hold of Eren’s, looping their fingers together like they’re a real couple. Or rather, because they’re a real couple now. It’s something he feels like he can definitely do. And yet, he can’t bring himself to do it for some reason.

“Hey, that’s a nice park. Do you wanna go sit on the swing set or something?” Eren offers, starting to walk off the sidewalk and onto the grass in that direction.

“I’d rather not.”

Eren stops in his tracks to look back at him. “Why not?” Once he catches the look on Levi’s face though, he adds, “Bad memories?”

“Yeah. I used to get into fights with other kids here. Mostly during high school.”

Eren goes through a myriad of confused, shocked, and then concerned. “Are you serious?” he exclaims. “Why? What happened?”

“Nothing.” Levi shrugs, walking back on the sidewalk and Eren begins to follow beside him again. “Sometimes I was bored, and other times I decided they deserved to be punched for being the human representation of cancer.”

Eren’s look of worry doesn’t settle, so Levi goes on.

“Because I’m short. Because I looked easy. Because I was friends with rich kid Erwin and I didn’t deserve to be. And a lot of other stupid fucking reasons. I figured that’s why my teeth never properly set in and my eyesight is worse than garbage.”

Eren looks horrified beside him. “I’m sorry….”

“Don’t worry too much about it. I never lost once to any of them.”

“That’s not the point.”

Although, after saying that Eren does seem to perk up at least a little. Maybe he’s just glad that winning probably meant Levi was never so severely beaten up as to need to go to the hospital or something. Which he never did have to, even if he probably should have at some points.

“Rough childhood, huh…” Eren says a bit sadly, as they avoid going towards the playground altogether now.

“I guess. It was a long time ago anyway so you don’t need to worry yourself over shit that happened more than ten years ago. I’m okay now.”

They continue walking with the air feeling heavier between them. Maybe Levi should have considered navigating this topic a little more gracefully. Like all the other topics he manages to trip and fall down through with horrendous style.

In front of them on the sidewalk comes up an old abandoned couch that someone presumably threw out on the street for garbage pickup or someone else to haul it home. Levi is just about ready to walk around it when Eren actually stops in front of the thing, turning to Levi with a light in his eyes that Levi already knows he’s got a bad feeling about.

“Let’s sit here,” Eren tells him.

Levi could see the question coming from a mile away, and yet he still feels like he didn’t quite hear that right. “Are you completely insane?”

“No,” Eren subverts easily. “Let’s sit here.”

“No,” Levi throws back at him, starting to walk away again but Eren grabs at his arm.

“Come on! It’ll be… kind of nice, don’t you think?”

When Levi actually takes a proper look at the couch, he can see it doesn’t look like it’s in shreds yet but it does look like someone very firmly decided that it needed to be put on the curb – and for good reason. There’s a plastic coating draped over it, and Levi has half a mind to wonder if the household this came from had all their furniture covered in plastic wrapping. Even through the dull material, he can see the colour of the couch is faded with some scratching or some other kind of markings that could either be the patterning of the fabric or some wild animal was set loose on it.

“It’ll be _kind of nice_ to sit on this and be ravaged by disease or filthy insects that have probably crawled through this? No way in hell.”

“So, you would sit on a maybe diseased and filthy swing set seat but not this couch that has plastic wrapping over it?” Eren argues. Admittedly, he’s got another point there.

Levi is still having none of it. “There is something inherently disgusting about sitting on foreign couches and not foreign swing sets. People at least compose themselves on swing sets in public, but this couch has probably seen some shit in the privacy of—” Levi looks up. “—number three three eight that frankly I don’t want to know about, much less sit on.”

But of course to his horror, Eren sits down on it anyway, on top of the plastic. “You’re being paranoid. Thought you were neurotic but not that neurotic?”

Eren is so infuriating.

And of course, Levi is swept away in the moment and Eren’s breezy smile and the breezy wind through his hair that Levi finds himself succumbing to it in an all-too-impressive total of seventeen seconds.

“Fine.”

Levi sits down beside him, cringing at the scrunching of the plastic beneath his ass. He would actually like to go home now.

Eren leans back, crunching more plastic and leaning back on his hands clasped behind his head. “Thanks, Levi.”

“Hm.”

He does owe Eren quite a lot, even if Eren refuses to believe so.

They seem to enjoy sitting on a weird couch in the middle of the sidewalk, listening to the dead quiet of the street and the wind that whistles through it. It’s weird but strangely calming if Levi can put it out of his mind the fact that he really has no idea what the hell he’s actually placed his ass on.

When Eren stays silent, Levi looks to him to see that he’s got that concerned expression again, bringing his arms down to his lap only to start fiddling with his fingers and flexing his knuckles like he’s itching to punch something.

“Are you still thinking about it?” Levi asks. “My fighting.”

Or is it something else?

“I’m not,” Eren murmurs back. “I’m just… surprised is all.”

So, it’s that.

“About what? You of all people should know about the scum that’s out there in the world.”

“I don’t know,” Eren replies slowly. “It feels like… it hits closer. Like hacking into networks and taking out shitty companies is done through a computer screen. I’m not directly harming them with my own two fists.”

Levi snorts. “So, what?”

“ _So_ , I actually feel angrier now. On your behalf.” He’s staring at Levi with such a look, something tender and vulnerable, and Levi swears if Eren says something stupid like “ _I wish I could have been there with you_ ” when they both know that’s impossible, Levi’s actually going to smack him. “I just wish you didn’t have to go through that,” is what he says instead.

It’s better, but still.

“Oh.” They sit there awkwardly now, with Levi thinking that they’re pretty close to be holding hands or something right now. If Eren just slid his hand over to his a little bit. “It’s honestly no big deal…” he tries to say.

 “Can I buy you something?” Eren says out of the blue. “Please. I know you hate it, but it’s all I can offer you.”

“Stop fucking saying that,” Levi grumbles, feeling the plastic with his fingertips. “You’re more than just money to me.”

“I don’t care. What do you want?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on! There has to be something.”

“I’ve never wanted anything.”

He makes an effort to rack his brain for a whole minute as they sit there like this for also a whole minute, and he can’t come up with anything. It’s always been Eren bursting into his heart with something Levi never even thought he’d want but ended up loving. There’s nothing Levi ever really cared to want besides the usual necessities.

_And Eren_ , his mind whispers to him.

“I want a couch,” he says offhandedly.

Eren’s silent for a few seconds. “A couch,” he repeats in the same dead tone.

“Yeah. I don’t actually have one in my room,” Levi confesses even though Eren knows this already. “And I’ve been told that’s weird. A place that doesn’t even have a couch.”

“I’ll buy you a couch, then. A really nice expensive one,” Eren says gleefully. “A big one, with lots of cushions.”

“I want this one.”

At that, Eren looks understandably confused. “Which one?”

“ _This_ one,” Levi says like a light bulb goes off in his head, even though he’s not really believing the words coming out of his own mouth.

It seems Eren doesn’t either because he tilts his head, narrowing his eyes in disbelief like he’s so sure he’s talking to an interstellar alien instead of Levi at this point. “This one that we’re sitting on?”

“Yes.”

For some reason, Levi’s feeling particularly spontaneous today .

“You’re not joking?” Eren asks, reaching his hand up to place it on Levi’s forehead.

Levi slaps it away. “No. Now hurry up before I change my mind.”

He gets up off the couch and Eren can’t do much else but follow him as Levi folds his arms and scans the length of the couch with his eyes. “Hurry up for what?” Eren continues asking in desperate hopes for an answer that frankly Levi is not sure he’s going to get.

“Let’s hurry up and get this to my place, obviously.”

Levi can’t believe he’s tried to do something nice for Eren by taking him out on a walk, and he’s managed to completely ruin it by forcing him to do manual labour.

Eren looks about braindead by now, expression completely blank, when Levi is already at one end of the couch, leaning down to place his fingers on the bottom of it. “Well?”

“You want to carry this thing all the way home?” Eren exclaims. “That’ll be over a half hour away! And this thing’s probably heavy as shit!”

“With the two of us, it’ll be okay,” Levi assures him. To be honest, he just wants to get this couch soaked down and cleaned out as soon as possible.

“You’re actually insane,” Eren tells him. But nevertheless, he throws his bag on top of the couch, getting to the other end as they both haul it up on the count of three. Eren starts to walk backwards while Levi walks forward. “Fuck! It’s heavy. I-I don’t think I can last all the – all the way there.” He’s practically out of breath already and they’ve only walked two metres.

“What? Are your muscles giving out on you from all that typing every day?” Levi taunts. He himself has been used to heavy lifting, what with monthly stock having to be brought in and there’s no hired help besides himself. When he can carry multiple 50-pound bags full of ice all at once, this couch feels like nothing.

Eren already sounds strained, though. “I don’t flex my biceps or triceps or anything by typing! And I sit on my ass all day.”

Levi would laugh if it didn’t make the couch fall from his fingertips. “So, you admit it?” he says instead.

“Of course!”

Levi purses his lips. “That’s no fun.”

Eren lets out an agonized groan.

-

They stop for a break after about fifteen minutes so that Eren can catch his breath by sitting on the couch. They also decided to ditch the plastic wrap in some garbage can about four blocks back because Eren insisted it added on weight.

“Halfway there,” Levi reminds him. “Are you alive? Are you breathing? I don’t know how to do CPR.”

Instead of growing silent like Levi expected Eren to at anything related to mouth-to-mouth, Eren simply laughs breathlessly.

-

After they lug the couch through the storefront, Levi’s on the bottom as they haul the thing up the stairs so that he can take most of the weight. Even so, Eren still has to go incredibly slowly so he doesn’t accidentally trip and fall. Levi swears that these hackers without their computers are useful for nothing, and Eren retorts back that he was good in school minus gym class.

-

“There’s not much space in the living room,” Eren says exasperatedly.

“Shit, I didn’t really think this through.”

Eren sobs a little.

-

They carry the thing up yet another flight of stairs to the roof because that’s the only place Levi can think to put it right now if he can’t leave it anywhere in his room and sticking it in the storefront is out of the question.

It’s a bit dirty since Levi’s never actually bothered to come up here much, let alone to clean. But Eren is suddenly eager to waddle backwards and hurriedly drop the couch in the middle of the open space, before falling down on it exhaustedly. Levi’s got to hand it to the kid – he didn’t actually think they’d make it this far.

“Finally,” is all Eren can wheeze before he closes his eyes and already looks like he’s out. Despite protests Levi makes that he has to clean the damn thing before they do anything else on it, Eren still doesn’t move. Maybe he can’t even hear Levi by this point.

Grumbling, Levi ends up taking his spot next to Eren anyway as he leans his head back on the couch, listening to Eren trying to catch his breath. Levi won’t lie – that was a nice workout for himself as well.

The sky has darkened considerably by now, past the point of sunset and into a navying blue haze. Sitting on the couch here has a nice view of the sky as well as the city landscape considering tall skyscrapers don’t block their view too much. Perhaps the couch will end up staying up here anyway. After Levi cleans it thoroughly, of course. Maybe he can get a canopy of some sort.

Eren’s hair has gotten messy again from the workout and the sweat, parts of his fringe matted down against his forehead while other parts are sticking out.

It seems to happen naturally by now that Levi can reach out and pat it all down, petting at Eren’s head to make sure his hair no longer looks stupid, even if a little attractive like that, but also because it feels like a form of intimacy that they’ve been lacking in recently. Eren continues breathing evenly, eyes closed, and Levi wishes things didn’t have to be so hard between them.

“Can I kiss you?” Levi says quietly even though he’s not expecting a response.

If one thing’s for sure it’s that they have all the time in the world to do this, until the sun falls and the stars come out and then disappear once more.

“Yeah,” Eren says, startling the hell out of Levi as he realizes of course Eren wouldn’t be sleeping now. He hardly ever does when he’s with Levi.

Eren simply turns his head to the side, leaning lazily on the back of the couch and keeping his eyes open this time staring at Levi, like he can’t bear to look anywhere else anymore. He doesn’t say anything, just sits there and waits.

Until Levi leans in and touches his lips against Eren’s, and it’s only then that Eren closes his eyes so Levi does, too. He presses in and Eren presses back, feeling hot and warm and breathless all at the same time. It’s slow and still, but there’s something electrifyingly good about it that Levi wonders if Eren feels the same way. He hopes Eren does.

It’s only until Eren is sitting up, not leaving his lips, that he pushes Levi back so aggressively and so forwardly that Levi is gasping as he finds himself flat on his back on the couch with Eren on top of him. There are sparks that crawl up and down his spine with a sickening pleasure when Eren licks at his lips, biting them, and panting out noises so quietly and yet so loudly that it makes Levi just grasp and cling desperately onto the shirt on Eren’s back in order to pull him closer and closer until Eren is flush right against him. Levi is so overwhelmed with too much and far too many senses – how good Eren smells, how addictive he tastes, how dizzy he feels whenever Eren leaves his mouth for just a second, a second too long, to suck in a breath and then dive back against him again.

He feels the softness of Eren’s hand trail up to hold his face, rubbing at his cheek, caressing the jut of his jaw like Eren wants to memorize each and every thing about him. All it does is make Levi feel totally and completely exposed, like he’s laying himself and everything he has out bare for the whole world to see. It makes his heart thrum with an ache, and then he remembers it’s just Eren in front of him, it’s only Eren, it’s always been just Eren.

There’s something about Eren’s touch that’s so calming and affectionate, smoothing over Levi’s skin in a scorching warmth that manages to wholly embrace him, and the security of knowing that this is where they’re at, they’re right here at this point in their relationship, and they made it in one piece together.

When Eren’s fingers dig into his shoulder, their lips part again as Eren leans his head forward, scrounged into Levi’s neck instead. He’s panting hard, laying hot puffs of air all across Levi’s neck and raising goosebumps that make Levi shiver against him.

“I just—” Eren breathes, placing his lips right against Levi’s neck as he falls against him entirely and wraps his arms around Levi’s middle. “Let me just – I’m even more out of breath now than when we were carrying the damn couch.”

And Levi finds that he can still chuckle a bit, reaching up to feel the short strands of Eren’s hair before gingerly placing his hand atop of Eren’s head.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO here is one last chapter before my break ends lol to start off the new year, i guess! this chapter was sort of long, like 2 chapters in one. i've been waiting to write this part for a really long time, and i'm honestly a bit exhausted. i hope it's been done justice hahahhha


	14. 60 frames per second

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **60 frames per second** – the frequency at which videos can produce smooth consecutive images. 60 is the most acceptable standard for high quality film, with human perception not being able to perceive a noticeable difference with a higher number of frames

Eren makes sure to be really careful.

Levi’s not even sure if he’s entirely aware of it. But while his own hands dangle awkwardly and weirdly off the ends of the couch or clenched tight into the fabric, Eren makes sure that his hands travel tentatively and double checks, triple checks, that his weight on top of Levi isn’t crushing him too much. His fingers ask for permission to smooth over Levi’s sides by hovering, waiting, and they go slow to make sure Levi’s okay with it before Eren is sighing into their kiss and continuing to hold him like he’s something precious.

Levi’s never felt so warm in his life, and it’s not because they’re having a sticky summer night where the air is humid and Levi feels like he can just barely breathe it all in.

It feels comforting. It feels like Eren is trying his best despite his clumsy breathing and wandering hands that don’t know where exactly to land, if it’s okay to land at this particular place on Levi’s body. And while Levi’s trying to figure out why exactly his back seems to arch without his permission and why it feels like he would let Eren do whatever he wanted with him, he’s getting distracted by those lips tacking themselves all over his and stealing away every thought and every breath.

He’s getting lost in the moment.

And while his heart beats frantically in his chest (or is that Eren’s he feels?), it all seems so calming, still. This is that perfect moment that Eren had been waiting for – where there’s a rush instead of anxiety and excitement instead of panic. For reasons that Levi can’t come up with, it seems like this is a feeling that he could get easily addicted to, and want every day for the rest of his life. He wants more. He wants everything.

“Okay there?” Levi asks the first chance he gets when they break apart again. He looks up towards the night sky even though his vision feels a little faint.

“Yeah.” Eren does that thing again where he hides his face in the tussles of Levi’s shirt and tries to control his breathing. It sounds painfully uneven. “This – this is embarrassing,” he stutters.

And while Levi tries to formulate what exactly Eren means by that, he sees a star shoot across the sky.

“I’m just so happy,” Eren says breathlessly before sucking in another loud breath. “I like you, Levi. So much.”

It’s Levi’s fault. He mistook an airplane for a shooting star, but there’s no mistaking Eren’s words even through those shaky breathes and thick humid air. He suddenly thinks about how amazing it would be if he could hear it again and again, for all the days to come and all the days to go. And not just those words. He wants to look forward to Eren in the morning and be tired of him by night. Levi wants to cling to him just like this, hands fisted into his shirt, breathing him in. He doesn’t want to let him go.

“Me, too,” Levi says back before the small anxious whine at the back of Eren’s throat can get any louder from Levi taking too long to answer. But wants to reassure him from now on. And before his heart can explode out from his chest and before his face can get any hotter, Levi says it back just like Eren was hoping for.

Eren kisses him again and again, and Levi wants to tell him to stop and slow down a little because they’ve got all the time in the world and neither of them are going anywhere. But then again, it gets a little hard because he also feels like Eren deserves this, that he needs this. And Levi needs this just as much, he thinks.

He’s exhausted by the time he lazily blinks his eyes open and realizes Eren is still lying on top of him, looking more like he’d passed out than fallen asleep.

He feels Eren rubbing fingers into his palm, gently and carefully. He lets him be because he feels tired all the way to his bones. Even if Eren’s doing it in his sleep, Levi wants to tell him to just hold his damn hand already if he wants to do it.

Eren’s mess of hair splayed out on his chest is accompanied by a hand that curls around it and Levi leans up slightly to see that Eren’s other hand is falling off the edge of the couch, and he’s beginning to ask himself with sluggish uncertainty just what the hell is that ticklish feeling next to his palm on the other side if it’s not either of Eren’s hands?

Levi stiffens, calm utterly shattered.

“Get up. Eren, _get up_.”

He pushes Eren right off the couch.

-

It’s humid so the water feels good on his hands from where it’s spraying out of the hose that Levi is currently holding.

He knows that Eren is pouting beside him, arms crossed and staring at the couch currently being hosed down. Levi can’t believe they actually made out on that thing after what just happened.

“I feel gross,” Levi says with a grumble, reaching a hand around to itch at his back because his mind is telling him something is there. The feeling doesn’t go away no matter how many times Levi shakes out his clothes or hears Eren telling him it’s going to be okay and that he’s sure _some_ bugs don’t have _life-threatening_ diseases.

Eren seems to jump beside him, making weird breathing noises.

“We got… I got…” Eren fidgets with the hem of his shirt, “…a little carried away.”

Levi sighs discontentedly because it’s something he would surely like to get back to but knows the moment is ruined for it. It’s amazing just how far gone he was to allow himself to lay across _that thing_.

Licking his lips and thinking the taste is decidedly Eren, it’s hard to deny anything when his body and his actions were saying something entirely different just earlier. If Eren isn’t going to save him, he’s undoubtedly going to ruin him. Getting him to lay on disgusting couches and things before they’re properly sanitized.

“I should have just let you buy me a new couch. What the hell was I thinking?” Levi mumbles, shaking his head to himself because he’s so wrought with disapproval.

“Are you not going to keep it now?” Eren asks, a little on the panicked side. “After all we went through to bring it up here, too? I think my back almost gave out.” He crouches on the ground like his back really has.

“No. I’m washing it now so we might as well keep it.”

Levi can see Eren turn his head up towards him from the ground, face lit up. “We?” he says with more hopefulness than curiosity.

Levi opens his mouth to say something, about to correct himself, but then doesn’t.

“Yeah, _we_.” He sniffs. “After I fumigate the shit out of it.”

Eren is still on the ground, huddled around his knees, while Levi circles the couch with the weak spray of water. He can’t up the pressure because then his water bill will start to nag at him from the back of his mind. For once, he wants to just not listen to it.

When he’s done and goes back to Eren who seems to have fallen asleep again with his head on the tops of his knees, Levi thinks about rafting a hand through his hair. If only just to wake him up a little. And also, perhaps, to satisfy whatever it is that’s welling up inside of him.

“I’m tired,” Eren suddenly says though, like he senses Levi there and what he’s about to do even with his eyes drooping closed.

“It’s getting late,” Levi agrees. He almost wants to pick Eren up and carry him to bed, lay him against his chest and maybe more, even if that would never happen. “Come on. You can stay if you want but the bed is downstairs.”

“Mm.”

Levi’s never seen him so sleepy, slowly getting to his feet, wobbling a little as he latches onto Levi’s sleeve for guidance. It’s cute. And Levi had only half-expected that Eren would perk up at any mention of a bed implying Levi being already on it. He only has one bed after all.

The cricket chirping seems louder now when they make their way forward step by step, and it’s hard because Eren keeps trying to latch onto him further, falling so far behind in step that Levi has to pause and wait for him to catch up. He holds his hand out, waiting for Eren to take it.

Eventually Eren walks right into him, curling up so close behind him that he lets his head fall onto Levi’s shoulder, apparently content with just staying there like this. Levi really considers just picking Eren up and carrying him all the way down after all. But he doesn't.

Levi has no qualms about sleeping together with Eren anymore, laying on top of the covers because he has no aircon and Eren’s skin already feels so warm against his hand.

He hopes Eren doesn’t mind him brushing his hair back a little while he sleeps, staring at his eyelids and memorizing the way his eyelashes move slightly with every breath he takes like he’s dreaming of something interesting. Levi wonders when he’d started falling for him, when he stopped wanting Eren to stay longer and started wanting him to never leave.

There were a lot of times where he’d felt like this is where his story would end. Just like this, wherever he was. It had seemed fine not to have any rising action, a potential climax, and a satisfying conclusion in his story. It was more than fine because Levi didn’t feel like a hero or a main character even of his own story.

But he regrets feeling like that – just a little.

When he looks at Eren, he thinks of tomorrow and the page after and the page after. It seems filled to the brim with uncertainties and what ifs. There’s suddenly the feeling that things aren’t enough anymore, and he gets anxious thinking about what the future has in store for them but is simultaneously hopeful for whatever it is.

And the thing that’s changed is that Levi doesn’t want his future to be just him anymore.

“What are you staring at?”

Levi blinks, trying to focus his eyes in the dark, and finds that Eren is looking at him, not quite wide awake but just enough. His face is really close on Levi’s small bed.

“Nothing,” Levi replies quietly. “I was just… thinking.”

“About what?”

Levi doesn’t even know if Eren is fully awake while he’s saying this, looking like he’s ready to fall back asleep at any time.

“Just us,” Levi decides to say, even if Eren doesn’t remember any of this tomorrow.

Eren yawns. “What about us?” he murmurs, eyes staying closed. Levi watches as Eren’s breathing starts to even out.

“Just that I like you being here,” he says.

Eren makes a noise, sounding something like agreement before he shifts his head a bit on the pillow. “I like being here, too,” he slurs. “But I already told you that… since the first day.”

Just hearing that gives Levi a sigh of relief, even though he should know by now that Eren likes being here, otherwise he _wouldn’t_ be here. He wouldn’t keep coming back when there’s free wifi on every block, he wouldn’t sit and talk for hours to Levi during the dead store hours of the day, and he wouldn’t make Levi feel like this, feel butterflies in his stomach and clenching in his chest just by saying things that Levi should already know.

“You really do,” Levi whispers, if only just to feel like that again.

“Mmhm.”

Levi can’t help being so unsure all the time and feeling like nothing is ever good enough for Eren because it’s _Eren,_ and this is a convenience store that says all of what it is and all of what he is just in the name.

It scares him because he’s so used to working a straight 15 hour workday, every day. He’s used to familiar customers and explicit labelling on products that tell him exactly what it is and exactly what it’s made of. There’s no room for deviation.

But it seems now what he has to do is just place his faith something and accept the fact that he’s moving towards a goal of which there’s no clear path towards. It’s absolutely terrifying.

“You could be anywhere else,” Levi says.

Eren doesn’t reply for a moment when he says that. His even breathing might have skipped a beat. He doesn‘t mean to put Eren on the spot.

And then Eren opens his eyes ever so slightly, regarding Levi with as serious a look as he can muster while being so tired and out of it, maybe not as out of it as Levi had first surmised. So now Levi finds he’s holding his breath involuntarily and resisting the urge to touch Eren again.

“I’ve been everywhere already,” Eren merely answers, clear as day. “Absolutely everywhere.”

He lets his eyes fall back closed, and Levi knows he can’t say anything else anymore. He just lets himself concede to the warmth of Eren’s arm around him, pulling him in closer on this small bed, and it has Levi feeling like he’s finally found something he wants to strive for – a place he wants to be in and a place Eren might just call home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my summer has started again. oh how i would love to see their story begin and end here.
> 
> EDIT: this is not meant to sound ominous! lol stories should end sometime, right?


	15. Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Burning** – to permanently write data on a CD or other storage device. Limited by what’s already on it but has the capacity for more to be added on.

“Levi?”

That’s how he knows Eren’s finally awake, prompting Levi to poke his head out from around the bend of the kitchen wall to see Eren sitting up dazedly in the living room bed, looking disgruntled from sleep and probably not being able to see very far in front of him.

“I’m in the kitchen,” Levi calls so Eren knows where he is.

He stirs their two steaming cups, bringing them both over to the living room and placing one on the small table beside where Eren has propped himself up on the bed.

“Morning,” Levi greets and stares down at Eren’s mussed head. “Coffee.”

Eren still looks a bit muddled but grateful for the coffee, reaching for the cup. He pauses. His eyes dart from Levi to the bathroom and he immediately insists he has to pee first.

He sets off running, then keels over a bit from getting up too fast, and Levi is about to be there in half a second before Eren is murmuring that he’s fine, proceeding more sluggishly into the washroom and closing the door.

Levi lets him take his time, sipping at his coffee at the dining table and flipping through the morning paper like he usually would downstairs, only he’s not running the shop and not waiting until mid-afternoon to tell Eren not to put his feet up on the counter. He can’t really read whatever it is the paper in front of him says, instead thinking about this feeling of waking up like this, making coffee into two cups like this, and having someone bumble around his room like this.

Eren emerges from the bathroom sometime later, picking up his coffee mug and sitting at the dining table opposite Levi.

Eren doesn’t speak a word for the entire time they’re finishing their drinks. Just exchanges glances between nothing, the floor, to the way Levi’s fingers flip casually through the front sections of the paper.

“How did you sleep?” Levi brings up. He doesn’t know what else to say and the weekday paper isn’t interesting.

Eren doesn’t look readable, either. Nervous, maybe? Like all of the memories of last night on the couch are only just coming back to him as well.

“Like crap,” Eren replies with a curve of his lip. “Kept waking up. ‘M not even sure if I got any sleep at all.”

“Oh? You looked pretty sleepy to me.” He definitely looked sleepy on Levi’s shoulder when they tried to navigate the roof last night without falling down.

Eren taps a finger to his mug, putting on a cheesy smile. “I was. But I think my mind was tired while my body wasn’t? Or maybe the other way around? I dunno…”

“You were asleep when I woke up,” Levi informs him.

“I guess I was. Maybe I finally got tired of not sleeping.”

“Did you watch me sleep?” Levi finds himself asking.

“N-No!”

Eren looks like he wants to bury his face into the table, and Levi can’t help a nudge of a smile that he tries to hold back but probably can’t.

“You?” Eren asks back hastily through his hands. “Did you sleep well?”

Levi shrugs even though Eren can’t see it. “Well enough.”

He lies, though. It was more than well. He fell asleep quickly and was awake before he knew it, woken up for the first time in years by the late morning sunlight streaming in instead of his alarm blaring that he didn’t set last night. His eyes had adjusted to Eren’s face, his slightly parted mouth, and the overwhelming gentleness of his slow even breathing.

It would be a while before he would even attempt to move his body and realize that Eren’s legs had gotten tangled up in his own and one of Eren’s hands had found a place to rest overtop Levi’s open palms. It was enough to prevent any chance of Levi falling back asleep again.

 “I’ve been thinking,” Eren says after the flush of his face has had some time to recover. He rubs his thumb along the edge of his mug. “I… really like it here,” he declares.

He says that like he wants Levi to know that he remembers their conversation from last night.

“I know.” Levi nods.

Eren breathes deeply, eyes blinking fast, like he wants to say something.

But he doesn’t, not for some time.

Levi goes to stand up from the table, the scrape of the chair almost drowning out his words, “Are you hungry? Should I make us some late breakfast?”

Eren is startled into downing the rest of his coffee. “Oh, uh. Yeah, sure.”

He sits very still, then. Although, if Levi looks closely he can see the waver in Eren’s lips, the insistent darting of his eyes back and forth across the table. He’s thinking or overthinking about something.

“Eren,” Levi almost barks out.

Eren looks up just as Levi walks around the table to put a hand on the washed out wood surface and lean down in front of Eren turned to stare quizzically at him. He slides a hand carefully behind Eren’s neck and quickly but insistently pecks him on the lips. Levi straightens up and waits for a response.

He doesn’t get one. Eren looks like he might have shut down. The focus in his eyes fades, and Levi can feel Eren’s skin heat up underneath his fingertips.

“Don’t start getting embarrassed now. You wanted this,” Levi reminds him.

He runs a thumb along the base of Eren’s hair like he’s trying to find the button to reboot him, but all it does is make Eren shiver and it sends a rush through Levi. He takes his hand off him and walks away to the kitchen, though, before anything can happen. Maybe they both just need some food.

From the living room he can hear agonized groaning and small murmurs of “ _it’s not fair”_ from behind him.

-

It’s almost spectacularly difficult to go back to a normal day at the shop. In just a single night it seems like so much has happened.

“That’s $7.50,” Levi says to a kid laying down a pile of popsicles at the counter. He’s grateful that his ice cream stock is emptying itself out as the summer nears its end. While it’s still hot as ever, the daylight period is definitely shrinking. The hours are getting short, and people become less inclined to stop by for casual conveniences on their daily walks.

Eren seems less busy as well. His fingers don’t look as furious on the clunky keyboard of his laptop, his eyebrows less crunched when he’s trying to think of a good comeback in coding form. These days instead of taking an energy drink from the fridges, he’ll just lean over the counter when no one’s around and ask Levi without words to kiss him just once. Really quick. Of course, canoodling during store hours is not something Levi wants to make a habit of. But when Eren looks like, _just like that_ , he can’t help but indulge him. And they’ve both just gotten so used to being indulged.

When they part, Eren falls back against the chair looking satisfied. It scrapes back a few inches until he’s almost hitting the aisle of canned food behind him.

“Why don’t you just come sit beside me behind the counter?” Levi suggests out of the blue.

Eren is confused for a moment before his eyes widen a fraction, haphazardly stuttering out “Really?” like it’s something he’s dreamed of doing all this time but never had the permission to actually do it or the initiative to ask for it.

Levi’s not quite sure why he’d never suggested this before, easily solving all of their previous problems of blocking customers, taking up unnecessary space, and looking just plain weird. It simply didn’t occur to him. To be this close.

Eren sets his laptop down to pick his chair up, dragging it around the small counter before dropping it next to Levi. He plops himself back down rigidly, smiling cheesily. Levi figures it’s going to take some getting used to the crowdedness now behind here.

“Wow, it feels… different,” Eren says in awe. “So, this is what you see, huh?” He glances around the store from his new vantage point and at all the stuff Levi has behind the counter—mostly just emergency cleaning sprays and currently-not-in-use tea kettles.

Levi points to the other side of the counter at Eren’s old spot. “You used to sit right there,” he reminisces, like Eren doesn’t already know. “I had such a good view of you.”

“Ah! What do you mean!?”

“It’s true.”

Eren pouts, probably more seriously than he intended to look, and Levi turns his head away to avoid the bubbling urge to laugh. Eren smiles too, then, placing the palms of his hands on the edge of the chair between his legs and leaning over.

“Well, sitting side-by-side now, I can always do this...” Eren slowly drops his head to Levi’s shoulder, finding a good spot on it and curling up closer against Levi’s arm. “Does this make you nervous?” He sighs contentedly.

Levi can’t really say. “No.”

“It makes me a little nervous,” Eren says himself, but then goes quieter to say, “The good kind of nervous.”

His laptop lays forgotten on the counter. The shop stays quiet.

In truth, Levi does feel a little nervous and a little like they’re going to be caught like this when the next customer comes in. But it’s good, just like Eren had said. It feels so simple and normal and like something they needed this whole time. Just feeling the heat of Eren’s body, the closeness, and the bare skin of Eren’s arm against his. Like he could hold Eren’s hand underneath the counter and no one would know.

The customers come in and look at them but most of them take no extraneous notice. It’s a good thing about this small neighbourhood, Levi figures. People aren’t that nosy.

“So, I’ve been thinking about quitting my hacking thing,” Eren announces when another twenty minutes go by without another customer.

He draws out the words and then stops, just waits for Levi to respond.

Hearing Eren say this for the first time though, it doesn’t make Levi quite as shocked as he expected himself to feel about it. He’s not entirely sure what to think. While it’s something he would have been overjoyed and relieved to hear before, now Levi can’t help feeling like he wants to say something. Like Eren’s quitting a part of himself, quitting his reason for coming into Levi’s store in the first place.

But at the same time it somehow seems natural, like Levi had known all along it was what Eren would eventually come to decide for himself.

“You’re sure?” Levi asks carefully because it really is an important decision.

Eren breathes out resolutely. “Yeah.”

Maybe it’s the way Eren can probably feel Levi’s shoulders relax that makes him dip his head even farther into Levi’s neck, holding his fingers together on his legs in front of him, crossing and uncrossing them. He doesn’t say anything about it anymore, resists explaining why he came to this decision and what prompted him to come to it. But Levi has a feeling he knows why.

“You like this place?” he repeats, and he can practically feel Eren gauging his tone. “And you like me?” he adds unwittingly.

Levi could just ask him outright about this instead of being roundabout like Eren is.

But then Eren says wistfully, “Yeah, I do.”

And it’s all the confirmation that Levi needs.

Eren had already said before, more than once, that this whole thing was illegal. Just how long will it be until it catches up with them? Levi doesn’t want to force any reasoning out of him, whether he’s stopping because of the potential consequences or boredom or what. Or if it’s a meaningful sacrifice meant to protect the both of them, and thinking about it like that makes Levi’s heart feel so so eternally grateful.

Eren brings his head up again to regard him with hardened eyes when the air in the store grows still. “Don’t get the wrong idea,” he says when he catches the look on Levi’s face. “I won’t miss the rest of the untouchable corporations still cheating us all. They can have their fun for a while, but Mikasa and Armin will just have to take care of them for me.”

Levi actually laughs at that. It’s such an Eren thing to say, even when he’s retreating, and it’s somehow so attractive. Levi wants to bring Eren towards him, bring his head down to kiss him gently to reassure him that it’s going to be okay whatever he ends up choosing in the end.

Eren smiles into it, kissing him back, and Levi presses a palm to his face because, really, Eren shouldn’t have to do this—choose between him and something he loves doing. But the fact that he chose this crappy, unexciting shop life and he chose _Levi_ is enough to let Eren have his way with him. Just for a little bit in the shop.

Eren doesn’t back up, instead turns his whole body in the chair now towards Levi and nips at the corner of his lips. Levi wants so badly to say ‘thank you’ or ‘I love you’ or something else along those lines.

“You’ll still miss it, though?” Levi says in between breaths and trains of thought.

“Of course I’ll miss it.” Eren moves to continue but Levi’s hand, now placed on his shoulder, holds him still in place, wanting a more serious answer. “But that was my life before,” Eren tells him when Levi doesn’t let go. “One corporation a day, seeing it in the news the next morning, and it felt so _fulfilling_. I was actually doing something, affecting the world, in a good way. At least on a macro level. I had to ignore the collateral damage. I had to endure the news talk about me like I was a menace and a terrorist and what kind of monster does this to millions of people’s jobs? Their families? The world isn’t split into good and bad, Levi, and I don’t have time to worry about if I’m the necessary evil or the justice that requires sacrifices.”

Eren sounds like he's been building up this argument within himself for years, his eyes drooping down and hand coming up behind Levi’s neck like he need something to hold on to.

“I thought it used to be okay when it was just about me. I would take the fall for myself. Anyone who unluckily let me use their network could plead ignorance to what I was doing. But you… you can’t, Levi.” Eren swallows thickly, shaking his head. “You’re going to end up ruined because of me, and I… there’s no way in hell I want that. I’m so goddamn scared of that happening. I just—so badly wish I’d met you normally, you know. Walked into your store as a customer and paid for some chips or something. I’m so unfair, I know. I just never know what to do and—and...”

There’s a pause before Levi can’t take it anymore and dives back against Eren’s mouth because it’s all he can think of to do before he can see the tears fall where they’ve gathered around Eren’s eyelids.

“Shut up. I don’t care what happens. If we go, we go _together_ ,” Levi emphasizes, a little miffed that Eren even has to say all this. Eren gasps as Levi drags him into his lap and nips at his ear to make him listen. “You made choices and you went through with them. Even though you don’t know whether they’re right or wrong, I think as long as one person understands why you did it then it’ll be okay.”

He can hear Eren breathing hard near his ear, trying to constrain the sobs as he holds onto Levi’s shirt.

“About what I’d be doing if I never owned a convenience store; I’m changing my answer,” Levi says quietly. “I wouldn’t own a tea shop. I’d be at home reading the newspaper talking about the hacker who brought down R&B Marketing for performing illegal research, and I’d be thinking to myself ‘ _How can I contact this guy? Because he’s amazing and I want to volunteer my wifi to help his cause.’_ ”

It’s gross and cheesy but it’s the best Levi has to offer. Eren drops his forehead to Levi’s shoulder, not being able to hold in the small bouts of laughter when Levi says that into his ear. Because Eren has always been spoiling him so much and Levi has never had the heart to tell him to stop. He wants to do the same for Eren at least in this moment.

“Since when would you have even been able to understand what was going on in that article?” Eren mutters and sniffing stuffily.

But Levi doesn’t feel at all offended when Eren says that. “Since you taught it all to me, of course.”

Eren looks like he’s about to protest, about to exclaim how that’s not possible and Levi will say yeah yeah, but Eren’s words are very literally swallowed up in the next moment.

Levi has no time for _what ifs_ and _what could have beens_.

-

Time goes by so fast now that Levi’s worried he’d missed some customers coming in sometimes, who probably take one look at the two of them and then walk out without buying anything.

When he expresses this to Eren, he just gets laughter and reassurances that say there’s no way that happened but that Eren was also distracted so it’s totally plausible. Levi forbids any acts longer than five seconds now and Eren pouts in his chair.

Levi sighs. “Just save it for tonight,” he trails off quietly in hopes that Eren doesn’t catch it.

But of course Eren does and of course it makes him ten times more productive in helping out with the shop.

He actually makes a point to smile at customers throughout the day now (if a little stiffly), helping Levi to bag their items, and wishing them a good day when they leave.

One who’s surprised to see Eren behind the counter asks if he’s now a part-timer, to which Levi retorts back, “ _No_ , he’s full-time and permanent.”

He even makes a point of staring the customer down, but mostly it’s because he doesn’t want to chance a glance at Eren in case his face has lit up like fireworks and Levi won’t be able to take it.

“Permanent, huh?” Eren has to say later, probably with a shit-eating grin.

Levi rolls his eyes. “It’s true, isn’t it? How many times do you want me to say it?”

“At least once more,” Eren insists with pleading eyes and a one-way ticket to tugging at Levi’s heart. Eren is so hard to resist.

Into the evening hours, Eren lets himself fall asleep on Levi’s shoulder after another regularly scheduled slow day and mumbles, “Hacking is easier than this.”

Levi just rolls his eyes to himself because Eren hadn’t even done much that he didn’t already do before. He wouldn’t even be considered a part-timer, doing only a fraction of the work at even less efficiency even that requires. But he learns quickly and Levi appreciates the earnestness to help out.

“You’ve caught yourself something cute,” Erwin says in front of him, spinning a hat on his finger that says he’s just come back from traveling somewhere and had decided to waltz right in before closing hour.

Erwin eyes the way Eren snuggles up and against Levi sleepily like a small cat (at least, that’s what Levi thinks him akin to) as he cards a hand through Eren’s hair protectively. “I didn’t catch him. He wandered right in here himself,” Levi comments.

“To be honest, I thought he’d be in and out of here in a week. Two tops,” Erwin muses.

“How kind of you to say that he’d had exceeded your expectations.”

“More like _you_ had exceeded my expectations.” Erwin smiles, a genuine one. “Really, though. I’m happy for you, Levi. For the both of you,” he says, looking at the two of them like they’re a complete package. “He looks like he makes you happy and that’s all I ever wanted for you.”

“Thanks, Erwin.”

Levi checks to see if Eren’s still sleeping through all this, and he is. Just making sure that he’s not listening to this sappy bullshit or he’ll never let Levi live it down.

“So, where’ve you been this time, huh? Discussing nuclear war plans with foreign entities? Or should I say enemies?”

Erwin laughs, putting his hat back on to signal his leave. “No. Just working on expanding the chain to European markets.”

“The chain?” Levi questions. “Of this convenience store?”

“Yes, of course.”

Levi stares blankly at him. “Oh, right,” he blurts. He’d forgotten who Erwin was for a second—a successful businessman before anything else. It just makes Levi and his store feel so small now, just one out of so many.

“I hope that went well,” Levi says coolly, almost letting his head fall to the side against Eren’s.

“It did, thank you.” Erwin checks his phone like he’s got things to do, but Levi is free to let him go whenever Erwin decides to leave. “There’ll be a ‘ _Reconnaissance_ ’ in every major country soon.”

“I always did wonder why the name sounded so shitty,” Levi says before receiving a look. “I mean why it sounds like you tried to make yourself the Commander of some leading convenience store war force.”

Erwin merely shrugs, but Erwin never shrugs without meaning. “It’s catchy, isn’t it?” he proclaims but Levi thinks there’s more to it than that.

“It’s a mouthful.”

Erwin doesn’t deny it but refuses to answer as he busies himself with his phone, one of those fancy touchscreens like the one Eren has. No doubt he’s probably communicating with ex-militants and war strategy leaders. Levi makes sure there’s no loose strands of hair falling down the middle of Eren’s face by wiping them away.

Erwin’s about to leave with a casual goodbye and a faltered hand wave before he stops like he’s just remembering why he came in here in the first place and asks if Levi has a scratch of paper handy. Levi rips one from the back of a notepad under the table and Erwin begins writing down a set of numbers.

“I got a new phone so here’s my number,” Erwin tells him, sliding the paper towards him.

“I don’t have a phone,” Levi remarks dully. Except for the wall phone attached to the shop, but it’s antiquated and probably not suited for casual conversation or the _texting_ that Erwin seems to be catching on from the young people.

Erwin caps the pen and puts it back into his breast pocket. “Well, consider it as an emergency contact, then.”

He finally leaves for good this time, acting just as sneaky and weird as Levi always remembers. But he pays it no mind, stashing the paper in his back pocket to put upstairs, and figuring the number is probably good to have in case the store catches on fire or something.

-

The next time Levi wakes, it’s the middle of the night. He’s lying in bed and there’s a bright glowing light that’s starting to annoy him.

Eren is sitting up beside him, laptop open on his lap where he’s typing more furiously than Levi’s seen him doing in the last few days combined. His phone is also lit up, thrown to the side of the bedsheets.

The clock on the nightstand says Levi’s been sleeping for three hours, but he has no idea if it’s the same for Eren. He can feel his lips a bit chapped from earlier, and maybe Eren’s wide awake because he’d been sleeping on Levi’s shoulder all day.

“What’re you doing?” Levi slurs, throwing an arm over his head and wanting desperately for the light to be off and Eren to be back beside him.

Eren ignores him in favour of clacking away on the keyboard which is one more thing that’s starting to annoy Levi the more he remains awake and not asleep.

Levi closes his eyes, not quite asleep but not quite fully awake, and listening to Eren tap away for the next ten minutes.

He barely registers the close of the computer and Eren getting out of bed completely to put it away in his bag.

“You wanna come back to bed now?” Levi murmurs, ready to nod off again with Eren’s arm around him and his legs tangled into his.

Eren doesn’t answer him for a second, and when he does his words falter. “No, I—I’ve gotta go.”

That’s what manages to wake Levi up fully now. He presses fingers to his eyes so that he can try to see Eren through the darkness, like that’ll give him more to make sense of. “What?” He doesn’t quite believe what he heard.

“Sorry. I’ve got to go, okay, Levi?” Eren says more definitively, and he begins to say something else but Levi can’t understand it right now. There’s an edge to his voice, too. Something Levi can’t quite pinpoint.

“No, what? What d’you mean?”

Eren wastes no more time in reaching for his phone on the bed, slinging his bag onto his shoulder, and then presses a kiss to Levi’s forehead before Levi can even comprehend what’s going on.

“It’s important that I go, alright? I’ll be back,” Eren says softly like that’s supposed to calm him down.

Levi is only just barely at the stage of blinking through the darkness now, and Eren has already gotten his shoes and his jacket on. “What, you can’t just tell me what’s going on?” Levi demands.

“I don’t want to worry you! So, don’t worry. I’ll be back before you know it.”

He’s out the door and running down the stairs, and Levi practically flings the blanket off himself to get up and run after him.

“That just worries me more, you stupid shit. Eren!” he calls.

The store is already quiet by the time Levi pads through it and opens the front door that Eren had already unlocked.

He looks up and down the street both ways, but Eren is already gone. Levi tries to think of something rational, tries to recall what Eren had said earlier when he told Levi not to worry. But he wants to pull out his hair and kick something when he can’t come up with a single explanation that would calm him down. He wishes he didn’t have to feel like this. He wishes he could blame Eren, even though that wouldn’t make him feel better at all.

But it’s short-lived because there’s a tap on his shoulder that scares the absolute shit out of him.

“Eren, god!” Levi wheezes as he turns around, hand clenching into the shirt of Eren’s chest just to make sure he’s real and not some figment of his sleep-deprived imagination. “Are you… I thought you’d left already.”

“Sorry, um. Is it okay if I take some chips for the road?” Eren holds up a large bag of Regular potato chips apologetically. “I took a Gatorade from the fridge, too. You’ll have to mark that down or whatever.”

He stands there, looking like he has no idea how to do any of this properly.

“Eren, I—” The words don’t come out. Levi can’t really explain, even to himself, why he had to come running after Eren barefoot. There’s so much he doesn’t know about any of this, and maybe he read the signs all wrong. Maybe he doesn’t have to worry, like Eren had said. But it’s the middle of the night and his nerves are killing him and he wants Eren to come back to bed, to not be caught up in all this, and just be able to sleep without being woken up.

In the next moment, Eren seems to have finally caught on and pulls Levi into his arms.

They stay like that like Eren doesn’t know what to say either, pressing his lips to Levi’s hair. “I’ll pay you back,” he says eventually.

Levi wants to punch him in the ribs. “It’s not that, you ass.”

Eren just holds him tighter, and Levi can’t help but sink into it. He takes in Eren’s smell, warm and comforting, much more comforting than any of his words had been.

“It’s getting fucked up, but I’ll fix it,” Eren murmurs into Levi’s ear and squeezes him, dropping his voice to a desperate whisper. “I love you, okay?”

It feels like Levi can hear Eren’s heart hammering through his own chest. His ears are ringing more badly than they did before, and it all contributes to this aching feeling that can’t help welling up in his stomach and his eyes and the back of his throat.

Eren stills leaves after eventually detaching himself from Levi. It’s important he leaves now, he’d said. Levi wishes he could just go with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> currently enjoying the mild periods of summer. it's 22 celsius which is like 5 below the seasonal average but it's perfect. sorry it's taking a while for me to finish this story off. maybe the next one is the last chapter? or the one after? who knows.


	16. End Program

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **End Program** \- sys.exit()

Levi closes the shop voluntarily, for yet another day, while he remains there. He doesn’t have a date to go on, or products to go out and order or pick up, or even to go shopping for that new comforter he once saw in a home furnishing magazine because his current one is getting old and ratty.

He stays here, the sign flipped to ‘Closed’ on the store front, and he sits here on the shit-infested couch on the roof that he never actually got around to fumigating after all. He should probably go out and actually replace it.

The wind is cold and Levi doesn’t know how long he’s been here. He has no fucking clue why he thought sitting on the roof would make him feel melancholic or bitter in the slightest. It doesn’t make him feel anything but a bit queasy because he’s maladjusted to the feeling of being so close to the edge. He’s only on the second story and even though he’s at least ten feet from the edge, it feels like the wind could just push him right off, and it’s terrifying.

He squints off into the distance where there are skyscrapers that cling together side by side. Apartment or condominium buildings, maybe, but they could also be bank towers and insurance companies and market research facilities. One of those buildings could go toppling at any moment now, very physically falling at the hands of expert computer hacker Eren Jaeger. His boyfriend. His lover. His… _whatever_. Doing whatever it is he’s doing right now.

Levi never knew himself to be so theatrical.

It’s less than 24 hours since Eren left, and Levi believes himself to be used to the feeling now. It’s hard being the one left behind all the time.

Of course, in all likelihood Eren will come back. Levi doesn’t doubt that.

But the more Eren leaves, the more it festers a feeling inside him that has started to harbour a life of its own—a feeling of total nonchalance and apathy towards the convenience store. The longer Eren’s absence, the longer he wants to permanently close the store. Because the place does absolutely nothing for him. Even while Eren’s there, it’s started to feel sickening. Like he’s wasting his time, like he’s wasting his life away.

Sitting up here alone only strengthens the feeling and makes him realize just how much can be done in the time he’s sitting at the counter with his chin on the table. He could take the subway to the other side of the city and back ten times in a row. He could spend twelve hours at the museum just looking at stuff. He could go back to school.

Levi’s moved himself back downstairs to his room, pacing around and looking out the window periodically only to go down to the darkened store and out the door outside. Maybe he’ll just jog to the park and come back. He’ll wait for Eren but only until he jogs completely out of breath and then collapse for the night.

“Okay, see you, Hange.”

Levi looks up and Eren is just coming out of the place right next door, closing the door and then heading in his direction until presumably his gaze stops him.

“Oh, Levi.”

Levi lunges forward, hand fisted in his shirt or his shoulder bag or whatever it is that he’s grabbing because he can’t tell right now. They trip backwards until Eren hastily places two hands on Levi, steadying them.

“I’m going to kill you,” Levi splutters out instead of his carefully-worded welcome back that he’d originally prepared. “Eren, I swear to god if you ever leave me again, I’ll…”

“I know! I’m—” Eren swallows audibly, and Levi lets him because he’s lost for words as well. “I’m sorry,” Eren says softly after some time.

“You’re-You’re damn right you’re sorry!” Levi half yells. He can’t remember what exactly it was he was supposed to say upon seeing Eren again now that he’s looking into his face for real and his chest feels congested all over again.

“I’m sorry,” Eren repeats desperately. “I wanted to call you first to tell you to start packing but then I thought it would be unfair to just have you pack all by yourself, so I thought I’d come over and help you. But I decided to stop by Hange’s just to tell her what’s going on. With how the store’s network is no longer safe and _Mikasa_ had to tell me that last night because they _blinded_ us here. They intercepted our proxy, well my proxy, and started redirecting our activity straight to the—”

“Wait, hold on. Pack? We’re packing? Who said anything about leaving?” Levi demands, letting Eren go mostly out of confusion.

Eren doesn’t let him go, though. If anything he holds onto Levi’s arm a little tighter, eyes darting back and forth. “Oh, right. Well. They, um, they found us. Basically.”

“ _Basically_ ,” Levi parrots.

“It sounds bad, I know.”

“Sounds bad? This is…” _So sudden_. Levi breathes in and then out, trying to wrap his head around the fact that Eren is serious about leaving. _Leaving._ “I thought you were going to fix it?”

Eren nods furiously, eyebrows turned up in worry. “I did! I mean I tried to. I went back to Armin and Mikasa. They have better get-up than I do, and they were already doing all they could. They’ve been looking out for us on the side, too. Just checking up every now and then when they noticed—” He stops. “Well! It’s complicated. Today, they agreed and I agreed that we should just…” Eren looks at him.

“Leave,” Levi finishes flatly.

“Basically,” Eren says.

“And are we coming back?”

Eren pauses, bites his lip. It looks like it’s destroying him just to have to say it. “It’s not likely.”

Levi lets out an exasperated breath.

It’s just so out of the blue.

He’d sat up in that couch on the roof all day coming up with explanations for what could have happened and what Eren could be doing that’s so goddamn important to their safety that he needs a fucking supercomputer or whatever to do it, at least to Levi’s realm of understanding. And maybe it’d briefly crossed his mind the thought of leaving this place and he and Eren living the high life in some beautiful penthouse with lavish food and on point room service, but he’d also simultaneously never really, truly, realistically thought about leaving his current one-room apartment above a goddamn convenience store because that’s what he has and that’s what he knows. He doesn’t know anything about anything outside of the store.

He’d spent almost half his life here.

In less than five minutes, Eren has gotten him re-evaluating his entire life. Although, when has he not done that would be a better question.

“So, when are we leaving?” Levi finds himself asking.

“As soon as possible.”

Wasting no time, Levi thinks. “You’ve got to be kidding me. God, Eren, you can’t just come here and uproot my entire life like this without even giving me any notice at all,” Levi spews more harshly than he intended. He looks towards Eren, who looks terrible. Eyes darkened, lips pressed together, apologetic. Levi immediately takes everything back. “No. Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I know you’re just—You know what’s best. And I trust you. I trust you with my life. That’s why I’m going a little crazy with leaving because I know I’ll have to. You did all you could, Eren.”

“It’s all my fault,” Eren says reluctantly anyway. His hand trails down to grip at the hem of his hoodie. He shakes a little, not being able to stare anywhere but at the ground. “ _Fuck_. I fucked up. And you only need to fuck up once for it to be fatal. If you’re just a little slow or mess up your cover or leave evidence. I don't even know if it's too late. I let my stupid ideals get in the way. I knew this was going to happen, and yet…”

He doesn’t cry, just looks profoundly disappointed in himself like he can’t stop thinking about turning back the time. Having more time. Because he’s young, and the finality of consequences and the watchful eyes of the all-seeing world wide web is unforgiving and ruthless in this day and age.

“I’m… happy,” Levi tries to form and it causes Eren to look back up at him, eyes crunched and confused.

“You’re…”

“I mean, I’m happy that this happened. It’s an opportunity. I want to get out of here,” Levi says definitively for the first time out loud but also to himself.

Eren blanches. “You’re serious?”

“I am.”

“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

Well, it is partly why he’s saying it. Because he’ll do anything to make Eren feel even just a little bit better about himself and the circumstances.

“No, I’m not.”

Ever since he’s felt restrained to even take days off, to shorten work hours because he’d rather argue with Eren about the possibility of cybernetic organisms than serve customers long hours into the night. Sitting on the roof doesn’t make him breathe any better and taking occasional walks doesn’t make him feel any freer when he knows he’ll have to go back to sitting behind the counter eventually. He’s poor as hell and his life isn’t going anywhere.

Just when did he start getting so tired of it all? What reason is there not to elope with Eren?

He doesn’t even know where it is they’ll be going, but Levi doesn’t care. He feels young, excited about things he doesn’t know, and it’s incredible.

“Just one thing,” Levi says seriously before he throws everything away for love and a new life. “Don’t ever leave me like last night again. I know I don’t understand a lot of your world, and it might not be your world for much longer.” Eren’s face falls at that. “But at least explain to me what’s going on in the lamest terms you can come up with. I don’t like feeling clueless and left behind, alright?”

Eren nods, stepping forward a little and placing his forehead gently to Levi’s. He’s probably tired but Levi appreciates the gesture, anyway.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m really sorry. I guess I thought—like I always do—that I could handle it all myself. I didn’t know what to do. But next time… there won’t even be a next time. But if there’s a next time, I guess… I’ll just…”

“Take me with you.”

He turns to walk towards the store again, and Eren runs after him, caging his arms around Levi from behind, and resting his chin on his head. “Yeah,” Eren agrees into his hair. “But it’ll be better. From now on we’ll be together. We’ll take care of each other. Doesn’t that sound… at least a little bit promising?”

“It sounds like we’re going to be fugitives on the run for the rest of our lives.”

“Well, yeah I guess…” Eren admits. The way he says it so casually and obviously reminds Levi with startling clarity that Eren is in fact used to this. He’s been on the run like this for years, likely.

Levi rubs Eren’s arm soothingly in return—a half assed attempt at trying to be comforting even though he’s trying not to freak out himself. He has no idea what’s going to happen to them and the likelihood of them getting caught. “We should probably start packing now,” he says before he can start worrying about the inevitable.

“Right.”

-

Eren stands out front, looking at the store and towards the roof where presumably he’s saying his last goodbyes to the memories he and Levi had here.

“So, we’re leaving,” Levi says. He’s said it so many times in his mind it just comes out naturally now.

“Yeah. It was only time before I knew something like this would happen,” Hange tells him forlornly, standing beside him. “The last tenant—Well, I’m sure he also went on the run once he found out his coke stash had been stolen. A bunch of thugs came here looking for him a couple times after that. This place might be cursed, now that you ask me.”

“My real estate agent was Erwin so of course I didn’t know about that,” Levi replies begrudgingly. “All that shithead said was ‘ _at least there’re no ghosts’_. I’d _rather_ be haunted by ghosts. I’m going to call him and tell him the whole place burned down because ghosts set the stove on when I wasn’t around.”

Hange laughs. “He changed his phone number.”

“Yeah, I have his new one.”

Levi curls his lip. He really did start to like the place after a while. After doing so much to fix up the damn place, he’d be surprised if he didn’t hold even the slightest warm feeling towards it. It’s small and the outside could use a new paint job. From a distance Levi swears the sign looks like it reads ‘ _Rectal anus’_ instead of ‘ _Reconnaissance_ ’. But it’s home. Was home.

“You know what I’m going to miss most?” Levi asks out loud. Hange tilts her head in question. “The fact that my internet account still has two grand prepaid into it.”

Hange bellows out laughing and it rings down the quiet night of the street. She probably has no idea what he’s talking about, but it’s nice to hear she’s getting some enjoyment out of his newfound love for internet wifi. “Listen, Levi Ackerman. I better not see you back in this crummy place. You two better Bonnie and Clyde your asses out of here,” she tells him.

“Shut up. I know.”

His last words to Hange consist of promising to buy a cellphone first thing once they settle down somewhere, and also to take care of Eren no matter what. Levi tells her there’s only guarantee of one of those things and he has no idea how or where to buy a cellphone.

-

“Maybe we can live on a farm or something. Or near the ocean.”

Eren’s head has found its spot on Levi’s shoulder. They take the train so late at night that they’re the only ones left in the entire car, and when they edge out of the tunnels to the outside, the dim overhead lights in the train make it feel like they’re a shooting star running across the nighttime sky of the city to an unknown destination.

“I don’t like farms,” Levi interjects. “What, are we going to ride horses all day and harvest wheat for a living? I don’t like the sound of that.”

Eren makes an amused noise like he’s really giving wheat-harvesting some thought. “I’d do it if it was with you,” he chortles.

Levi’s almost silent at first. “No, you wouldn’t.”

“Yes, I definitely would!”

“A technology nerd like yourself—no, you wouldn’t. But I wouldn’t do it anyway, so you’re safe from endless wheat fields and cleaning up poop in horse sheds.”

Eren scoffs, crossing his arms. “You’re no fun. It’s the _idea_ of living on our own. It doesn’t have to be practical. Just the two of us; doesn’t that sound nice?” Eren trails off, pausing to let that sink in. “But on second thought, being away from internet and civilization doesn’t sound too stimulating.”

“I knew it.”

“You know me so well.”

Their suitcases are spread out all around them, on the floor in front of their feet and on top of the seats. Eren didn’t have much stuff to begin with and Levi hadn’t wanted to carry around tons of stuff, either. They did have plenty of food to take with them from the store’s inventory.

Levi has no idea what stop Eren is planning on getting off at.

-

“Look, look, Levi. Right here.”

Eren points to the lit screen of his laptop in the darkened airport. Levi jerks awake, having tried to pretend that he hadn’t fallen asleep this whole time, so he leans over Eren’s shoulder uncharacteristically smoothly to see a rather plain-looking computer document with even plainer font. The font is that kind they use in movies for top secret type information or translation text in war films.

Eren’s finger directs his attention to a particular line.

LEVI ACKERMAN (OWNER) and EREN JAEGER (SUSPECT).

Levi’s brain takes a while to wrap around it.

“Our names look good together, don’t they?” Eren says dreamily.

Levi quickly scans the document that reads like an extremely boring email with technical sentences that he can’t read for the life of him, and then glances towards the top where it says ‘EXTREMELY SENSITIVE (REVISED SUSPECTS)’.

“Eren, did you just—did you hack this from the police? Is this our goddamn Wanted poster?” Levi says incredulously.

“The 21st century version of a Wanted poster, I guess.” Eren shrugs as he bites into his airport-bought sub sandwich. He puts his hands and his sandwich up defensively when Levi continues staring at him like he’s crazy. “Okay, okay! I couldn’t help it. This’ll be the last time, I swear.”

It probably won’t be, and maybe it’s the exhaustion starting to creep in from earlier, but Levi has weirdly been starting to feel the supposed god complex for having so far escaped from the eyes of the law. Like he doesn’t really care anymore if they do get rounded up somewhere by a bunch of feds. He’s been drinking more tea lately, like he normally would during the slow days at the convenience store when he didn’t have to worry about much.

“Our names do look good together, though. If they weren’t each suffixed with _Wanted Criminals_ , but yeah they look good.”

-

Levi has found that he really, really does not like crowds.

“Hm. I thought it would be bigger, to be honest,” Levi says skeptically but he snaps a picture on his cellphone anyway.

“I think they did say the real Statue of David is a lot smaller than you’d think,” Eren replies, flipping through his Florence sightseeing guidebook while he stands behind Levi, protecting him from the crowds of people that bump into them.

“I mean I thought he’d be huge. Like the size of a humongous Greek God,” Levi says almost regretfully.

Eren slowly turns to look at him. “Are you talking about his…”

“His height,” Levi interrupts him.

“Oh.”

-

Eren had told him that before they got out of Italy, they needed to sit down at an authentic Italian restaurant and have some real authentic Italian gelato. It hadn’t seemed all that important to Levi. It was just jello.

“It’s not jello,” Eren reminds him.

Either way, that wasn’t the only thing he was dead wrong about.

“This tastes amazing,” Levi exclaims while sitting out on a beautiful café patio, and Eren counters his wide eyes with a set of wide eyes of his own.

“It really does!” Eren agrees excitedly, scooping the stuff into his mouth.

“For real. This is some good shit, Eren. I’ve been eating fake ice cream all my life whenever it starts to melt in the freezers because nobody buys it. And I can see why because this—this. _Fuck_. Let’s buy gallons of this shit.”

Eren beams and begins taking out a wad of bills. “I can do that,” he says with a disgusting amount of conviction.

And then he regards Levi with such a soft look, one that takes Levi a moment to process before he’s purposely turning away.

They only end up buying two more cups but they’re good enough to last all the way back to their hotel while they walk along the paved evening streets lit by hanging lanterns and strings of overhead fairy lights.

Eren stops walking and immediately grabs onto Levi’s sleeve to stop him, too.

“Do you see that?” Eren says. Levi follows his gaze that seems to be staring at a store across the street. “Is that…”

It says ‘ _Reconnaissance_ ’ in shiny cursive LED lights.

“No way,” Levi deadpans as Eren pulls him onto the street towards the other side to get a closer look. “It looks like it’s from the future. This can’t be real.”

But it is. Levi catches a 24 hour sign pressed up on the glass windows, squeaky clean like they get polished every day, before he’s dragged inside.

It’s a lot bigger than the one he owned, that’s for sure.

“ _Benvenuto_. We’re having a 30% off sale on selected items in the store,” the greeter says to them.

“Is this a fucking Walmart or something?” Levi blurts.

The greeter looks confused. “No, this is _Recon_.”

“So this is the same chain as your store?” Eren asks Levi breathlessly, wandering over to a large display of Coca-Cola bottles stacked on top of each other in an elaborate pyramid.

“Yeah, I—I guess so,” Levi says slowly. He takes out his phone, ready to call the only other number he has stored in there besides Eren’s and Hange’s.

Eren is most definitely in awe. “It’s certainly improved itself while we were gone. Or at least the overseas ones did.”

Levi presses yes to make a long-distance phone call and waits for the ringing to go through.

“ _Hello?_ ”

“Erwin, it’s me.”

There’s a pause before he gets an exuberant gasp, probably exaggerated. “ _Oh, Levi! It’s been a while. I thought you said you would call me._ ”

“I’m doing it right now. Guess where I’m standing right now, you stingy bastard?”

From the long pause, it sounds like Erwin is actually trying to make an educated guess on where Levi could possibly be right now. “ _Still on vacation, I presume_ ,” he ends up saying uselessly.

Eren takes an old-fashioned Coke bottle carefully from the side of the display, staring at it curiously.

“Well, yes,” Levi says. “But I’m standing in a brand new _Reconnaissance_ store located in Rome, Italy. Well, I don’t know if it’s brand new but it’s brand fucking new compared to the one back home.”

“ _Oh, the Rome location. I had that one specially designed with the new concept. It’s nice, isn’t it?”_

Levi wants to hang up on him right now. “Yeah, it’s nice, alright. The fucking greeter smells like they get paid more than I did.” Levi realizes it’s not the greeter, though. There’s just new store smell on everything and everywhere in this place.

“ _The Recon you worked at was the first Reconnaissance store ever conceived,”_ Erwin explains to him. _“There was no room to renovate it with the limited space, so it just remained that way since you started working there_.”

Eren turns to him, posing with the Coke bottle next to his face and smiling like he’s some poster boy for a cheeky advertisement. Levi wants so badly to hang up right now so he can take a picture.

“ _Are you having fun?_ ” Erwin asks him. “ _I wish I could take a vacation but I’m swamped with work_.”

“That’s what you get for upgrading this place to the point of unrecognizability. And yes, we are having fun. Thanks for asking.”

“ _Have you guys stopped by France yet?_ ”

Eren puts the bottle back on the display and Levi curses everything when he misses his chance for a new phone background. “No. It’s next on our list. That’s all I wanted to say so I’ll talk to you later, Erwin. I’ll call again when we get to Asia or something and I spot another one of these damn places. I hope I’ll be greeted by an actual samurai there.”

“ _No promises._ _I wish you two luck_.”

Eren bounces over when he’s done. “Who was that? Erwin?”

“Yeah.” Levi pockets the phone again. “He says he’s sorry for being such a prick and that he’s making sure all his employees here are being paid at least minimum wage now.”

“Oh, wow. Did you even pay yourself minimum wage back home?” Eren asks seriously.

“It was minimum, alright.”

The walk through the store together takes them something like forty minutes because Levi can’t help dissing (marvelling at) all the new products. Especially the wide array of disinfectants, ice cream flavours, and beverages.

“They still sell Regular flavoured potato chips,” Levi comments offhandedly, randomly picking one up among the dozens of different brand names. “Though the bag size has definitely improved.”

Eren buys one for them despite neither of them liking the damn flavour. “As a souvenir,” he declares, and Levi will end up being the one munching on them as a midnight snack later in the bed back at their hotel room.

-

When they stand on the cleanly cut grass near the Eiffel Tower, Eren is wrought with what Levi thinks is an incredibly dramatic display of disappointment.

“It’s closed!” Eren cries and pulls at his hair. “This one day out of all possible days, it has to be closed because of a staff protest or whatever! Unbelievable. How can they close it knowing the Eiffel Tower is such a prominent tourist attraction? They’re losing tons of business by doing this.”

Levi tries to calm him down that only works somewhat well and prompts Eren to sit down with him on the grass instead before Eren ultimately decides to take out his phone and write some command codes that will somehow get them by Eiffel Tower security. “It’s fine. The view from here is fine. Everything’s fine,” Levi tells him insistently, rubbing soothing circles into Eren’s back.

“It’s not fine! It was supposed to be perfect today. On top of the Eiffel Tower, all lit up, underneath the cloudless evening sky, some French music probably playing in the background…”

“What were you planning to do? Have a fancy French dinner with me up there with just the two of us?”

Eren goes completely stiff, suspiciously so. “Not exactly,” he says under his breath.

Eren turns to him on the grass, studying Levi with a renewed gaze. Levi doesn’t know what it is but he can see Eren’s eyes flicker with the glow from the Tower in the distance, and maybe if they were at the very top of the iron framed building then maybe the high altitude wind would tousle Eren’s hair more than it does right now. Why would he even need to be at the top of the Eiffel Tower when this look right is already difficult to compete with?

The next moment has Eren getting up on his knees so that he can fish something out of his back pocket, holding it briefly behind his back when he does, and slowing his breathing and closing his eyes to the point that Levi’s mind blanks.

“Levi Ackerman, will you—” Eren’s voice breaks before the end of his sentence and his next wheezing gasps make Levi’s heart seize up with such shocking realization that all his senses shut down and the blades of grass that he’s sitting on crumple beneath his fingers’ tight grasp.

And the black velvet box that’s presented to him, illuminated by just the reflective glow of Eren’s watering eyes, is what makes Levi’s entire world from then on spin insanely out of control.

“ _Of course_ ,” Levi blurts with such ferocity that Eren yelps in surprise when their teeth clack together and they collapse on top of each other on the grass before Eren can even slide the ring on Levi’s finger.

-

-

-

“I never asked you what you wanted to do,” Levi says, hand clasped into Eren’s as they lay on the hotel bed together, sheets over them, in the capital of Germany. Eren rubs at the ring there on Levi’s finger absentmindedly. “If you were never a hacker,” Levi clarifies.

“Would I still be interested in computers?”

“Why not.”

“Hmmm.” It might have seemed like a weird question at a weird time when Eren had been right in the middle of pressing kisses to Levi’s face and his neck and his arms. “Hadn’t really thought of it much,” Eren replies, clearly having other things on his mind right now.

“I know but if you had to pick something.”

“Maybe I’d have joined the army.”

Levi makes a point to glare at him, and Eren just laughs.

“I wouldn’t do that. That sounds horrible,” Eren says muffled against Levi’s shoulder and wrapping his arm around Levi’s naked chest. “Well, when we get caught I might just ask them to hire me as a hacker on their team or something. Help them to stop other hackers. I could work for the Department of National Defense.”

Levi thinks that answer is unexpectedly thought out. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“They probably wouldn’t let me, though. Hah!”

And Levi had almost thought that they might have had a chance to get out of all this for good. Of course, such a thought is too good to be true. Eren may have over a hundred grand in stolen money in his bank account, but they’ll be caught well before they even have the time to spend it all.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Levi never thought he’d ever be one to bathe in luxuries, riding on jet planes in first class and eating out at invitation-only restaurants with gold-encrusted cutlery. He never thought he would ever be filthy rich, emphasis on ‘filthy’, and especially not because of a kid who’d first walked up to him in white-soled sneakers and wearing a hoodie with the hood over his face to cover himself from the pour of the rain. He’d smiled at Levi then, almost like he had everything planned out since that very moment.

Eren Jaeger became an Information Security Analyst at a high-profile company that he had online connections with.

His fiancé, Levi Ackerman, became part of Human Resources at Teaddict, a successful tea and tea accessory retailer.

The two of them frequently go on holiday trips together because of their wealthy upbringing. Although, their permanent residence is in Paris, France.

**Court Ruling (for both)**

**Final Verdict:** Innocent

 **Reason:** Lack of substantial incriminating evidence

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is! the ending to love.exe after all this time. it’s been a fun ride, bumpy at times, and times when i really considered that this story wasn’t going anywhere, but we made it through. and it’s the longest multichapter i’ve ever written! at about 70k words and over 1500+ kudos on ao3 wow. i’m honestly speechless. there are definitely a lot of ideas that i scrapped and probably a bunch of plot holes, but i’m so grateful for everything and all of you. i really like this last chapter and i hope it makes for a satisfying ending.
> 
> i mean, what can i tell you guys? i'm a sucker for happy endings. eren and levi live happily ever after (tho do they really live in paris?) (are those even really their real jobs?)
> 
> thanks for sticking with me and this story!


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